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Company News of Thursday, May 30, 2019
Source: dailyguidenetwork.com
2019-05-30
Owusu Afriyie Akoto is Minister of Food and Agriculture.
GHANA is expected to achieve self-sufficiency in rice by 2023.
The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Owusu Afriyie Akoto, informed the media on Thursday, May 30, 2019 in Accra.
He insisted: "It is expected that domestic rice production will increase compared to 456,000 tons of milled rice (2018) and achieve self-sufficiency by producing 1,665,000 tons by 2023".
Various government initiatives are expected to increase production to reduce the current deficit from 656,000 metric tonnes to a surplus of 365,230 metric tonnes in 2023.
According to him, several interventions have been put in place to increase productivity and production.
"The current program of the Government of Ghana to transform the rice industry
goals to achieve self-sufficiency in 2023. "
As part of the interventions, he announced that "various outcomes are expected, including: increasing the productivity of rice for smallholder farmers, increasing the capacity of smallholder households to adopt good cultural practices, strengthening and expanding the value of rice. national access to production
market and improve the delivery of extension services. "
According to the Minister, the interventions collectively aim to transform the rice value chain to increase competitiveness, food and nutrition security, job creation and wealth creation at the national level. .
Currently, he added, Ghana imported $ 1.5 billion worth of rice each year.
The amount, he said, could be saved for other development projects such as roads, hospitals, schools, from 2023, when the country will have achieved self-sufficiency in of rice production.
Seed intervention
At the start of the 2017 growing season, it reported a total of 1,698 metric tonnes
rice seeds were made available for cultivation. For the reframing 2018
season, a total of 2,400 tonnes was made available to farmers.
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