This certification which is an initiative aimed to
promoting the consumption of Ghana Rice among rice consumers in the country is
being developed in collaboration with Ghana Standards Authority (GSA), Food and
Drugs Authority (FDA) and Brands Ghana which is driving the campaign for
consumption of made in Ghana products.
Mr. Imoro
Amoro -- GRIB President speaking to B&FT after the media
launch of the 3rd Rice Festival in Accra explained that the certification will only
be awarded to processors and marketers of Ghana rice brands after going through
the required GSA and FDA training and successfully passing all product test
which meets both the paddy standards and milled rice standards.
He explained that GRIB in collaboration with Ghana
Grains Council, GIZ-CARI and USAID-ADVANCE has successfully developed rice
paddy standards and reviewed the milled rice standards for training and use by
the rice value chain which has led to the quality rice brands currently selling
on the market.
He explained that GRIB has charged
farmers to produce good quality paddy-rice in line with efforts to promote
locally produced rice.
He bemoaned missed opportunities in
the rice sector due to inaccurate consumer perceptions about local rice, adding
that farmers can do more to dismiss such thoughts from the minds of consumers.
“We should disabuse our minds from
the perception that the rice produced in Ghana is of inferior quality. The most
important thing that farmers can do is produce quality paddy-rice. We are
producing for the market, and because of globalisation we can never close our
eyes to the impact of the external world on our market. So, to be able to
compete with others in the market and eliminate the idea local rice is
inferior, we need to produce good quality rice that meets the expectation of
consumers,” he said.
He further stated that his outfit is
engaged in training farmers on how to use modern tools and methods of
production to boost output in the sector.
“We are training the farmers with a
system known as rice intensification -- a system based on transplanting instead
of the traditional broadcasting method, whereby one seed can grow so much rice
and the paddy also comes out clean and of very high quality. So this is what we
are doing to improve the quality of the local rice,” Mr. Amoro said.
Harold Ntorinkansah – Chairman Ghana
Rice Advocay Council, said access to funds must be eased for farmers to enable
them tap the full potential that exists in the rice sector.
He explained that the industry
continues to face limited access to mechanization equipment and service to rice
farmers and processors, limited access to concessionary financing by rice value
chain actors, limited access to quality rice seeds to rice farmers as well as
limited commitment by government to use its purchasing power to boost demand
for local rice procurement by public institutions, government events to
promote the consumption of local rice.
Statistics show that rice
consumption in the country is estimated at 770,000 metric tonnes per year, with
an estimated US$500million spent on imports yearly. Anecdotal evidence suggests
Ghanaian urban consumers are willing to pay 113 percent premium for imported
rice.
The project will support lowland rice production in the Northern, Upper East, Upper West Regions and northern parts of the Volta Region of Ghana.
Mr. Imoro explained that the RSSP is in line with MOFA’s strategy to facilitate the production of food crops to attain food self-sufficiency, output processing and marketing systems adding that rice has been expressly identified in the Food and Agricultural Sector Development Policy (FASDEP) as an important food crop that should be given special attention for food self-sufficiency.
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