That, he said, would help increase consumption and encourage farmers to cultivate more to enable the country to become the hub of rice production within the West African sub region.

Speaking to the Graphic Business on the sidelines of a rice workshop, Mr Opoku said the consumption of local rice every year was increasing, hence the state must capitalise on it in order to reap the results.

“It is crucial for the country to adopt a single rice seedlings for local rice production in order to complement the increasing patronage due to the improving packaging, absence of stones and chaff in the cultivation of varieties similar to the imported ones,” he said.

Although rice has become stable in the Ghanaian economy with a per capita consumption of about 58 kilogrammes per head, and demand for milled rice for consumption estimated at 1.6 million metric tonnes, only 46 per cent of this is locally produced.

He urged the government not to see rice as just food to enhance food security but recognise the contribution of the crop to the national economy through foreign exchange.

Strategies to reduce import

For his part, Mr Joseph Nyame, a local rice farmer, called on the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to develop a strategy to reduce the import of the cereal into the country.

“A boost in production and improvement in the packaging of the local rice would encourage increase domestic patronage, thereby reducing the importation of rice,” he advised colleague farmers.

He also bemoaned missed opportunities in the rice sector due to inaccurate consumer perceptions about local rice, and he added that farmers could do more to dismiss such thoughts from the minds of consumers.

Rice imports

It is estimated that Ghana imports between US$200 and US$400 million rice annually.

The amount is said to be one of the major factors that swells the country’s import bill, while putting pressure on the local cedi which is consistently losing value against the United States’ dollar.

Due to the high demand for the cereal, particularly the perfumed brand, many business people have found rice imports a lucrative venture and are importing from all sources around the world.

On the other hand, the government has also found it an easy source to make some revenue and has since 2010, reintroduced taxes on the importation of rice.

The move has not only made the importation of rice and its sale to the people more expensive but has also created the platform for people to smuggle the cereal into the country.

According to Food Security Ghana, two of the major motivators for smuggling rice are the high import tariffs and, more importantly, the high differences between neighbouring countries’ duties and taxes.

In the rice sector, a gap of 24.5 per cent exists between import duties as compared to Ghana’s 37 per cent and Ivory Coast’s 12.5 per cent, leading to massive smuggling on Ghana’s western border.

Ban on rice import

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MoTI) has lifted the ban placed on inland importation of rice by the ministry and Parliamentary Select Committee on Trade and Tourism.

The ban, which has been in force for about three years, prevented the importation of rice into the country through the Elubo, Sampa and Nkrankwanta borders.

The move was to curb the numerous unfair trade practices such as evasion of import duties and other taxes, under invoicing, infringement of trademarks and smuggling.