Farmers call on govt to ban importation of rice

27 Jan 2010
Tamale, Jan. 27, GNA - Government has been asked to ban the importation of rice into the country and encourage the production and consumption of the foodstuff locally. Mr. Mohammed Adam Nashiru, President of the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana, a civil society organization, who made the call, suggested to the authorities to increase tariff on imported rice, to create market for locally produced rice to increase the income of farmers to support the economy. The leader of the Association was speaking at a meeting of rice farmers from the Tamale area, on Tuesday. Mr. Nashiru said the Upper West, Upper East and Northern Region Regions (the three Northern Regions) last year produced 500,000 metric tones of rice and could meet the local demand for the staple. He expressed worry that lack of interest and political will by successive governments to support rice production had led to low production of the crop in the country.   More story