NAFCO promises to reduce imports of rice from abroad

News from Sunday, January 27, 2019

Source: 3news.com

2019-01-27

The Ghanaian National Food Storage Company (NAFCO) said importing foreign rice into the country, especially to feed graduate students, would soon be a thing of the past.

As part of its mandate, NAFCO provides food to graduate students as part of the government's flagship program – the Free High High School initiative.

Addressing 3news.com, in the Far East region, where NAFCO validated its warehouses and packaging warehouses, CEO, Hanan Abdul-Wahab, said that the reorganization of The Builsa South warehouse, in the rice growing area, would allow farmers to produce more rice. , thus reducing imports of foreign rice into the country.

"Once we are able to produce what we eat, there is no point in bringing in foreign rice. The intention of the government is to actually cut the import of foreign rice.

"Today, if we say we cut foreign rice, local rice will not be able to support the government's flagship program [of Free SHS].

"We are gradually reducing the number of rice / foreign foods we feed into our graduate institutions," Hanan said on Thursday.

A representative of Builsa South District Director, Michael Anokye, who also spoke at 3news.com during the official delivery of Bulsa South's warehouse at NAFCO, expressed optimism about the fact warehouse will be operational and will allow farmers in the region to grow rice large scale.

"This year, for example, some people [farmers] had more than 6.0 or 6.5 metric tons per hour [of rice], He said, which means, if we have the valleys [at Bulsa South] Developed, more and more farmers will come here to produce and once they produce and that NAFCO is there, they know that they have a ready market to use. "

An inspection at the Zuarugu warehouse in Zuarugu, also in the Upper East region, allowed two KIA trucks to load bags of fertilizer that currently occupied the facilities.

According to NAFCO, this would pave the way for fumigation of the facility so that it starts buying farmers their product to store the warehouse.

A visit was also made to the Pwalugu Packhouse [a facility with inbuilt refrigerator to store fruits and vegetables] as well as in the premises of Navrongo Fire Department Command, Navrongo, where a structure would be renovated to serve as a temporary warehouse.