Ghana to stop tomato imports and cut rice imports by 50% in 2019

Company News of Wednesday, March 20, 2019

Source: Myjoyonline.com

2019-03-20

The Ministry of Food and Agriculture said it planned to cut rice imports by 50 percent and stop imports of tomatoes this year.

Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, George Oduro, said the government was working to significantly reduce food imports.

He said: "This year alone, our goal is to put a halt to the import of rice 50%. Then, for the tomato too, we hope to end its import in order to produce enough, even for export, because we have the ability to do it. "

According to him, efforts to develop irrigation projects, the introduction of mechanization are part of efforts to help increase production.

Mr. Oduro was speaking at a breakfast organized by Integrity magazine on "Opportunities for Ghana-Israel Cooperation on Innovation and Agricultural Technologies".

The event brought together various actors in the agriculture value chain to discuss the role of agriculture and ways to strengthen its contribution to the nation's GDP.

According to the Israeli ambbadador to Ghana, Shani Cooper, his government will continue to invest in Ghana's agricultural sector.

"We have so many investments in Ghana worth hundreds of millions of dollars, but we think the help comes with trade, so we do a lot of farmer capacity building. We are also working to attract more investors from Israel to Ghana in the agriculture sector to boost trade between the two states, "said Cooper.

Reverend Kenedy Okosun, CEO of Integrity Magazine, organizer of the event, said the development of the Agric sector is fundamental to the country's development.

"You know that by increasing our production, we can start exporting food products out of the country. By doing so, we will be able to solve one of our main problems with the currency, so that we can supply enough other investors who want to go into industrialization or other activities, "he said. he declares.

Ministry records show that in 2017, Ghana imported some 656,232 tons of rice valued at $ 331.2 million.

During the same period, some 75,000 tonnes of tomatoes were imported to meet domestic demand, which the Ministry describes as disturbing.