Notwithstanding the acknowledgement of the quality of the Volta Prairie (Aveyime) local rice, consumers and retailers in the Ho Municipality have reservations about its packaging and prices.
A cross-section of consumers expressed these opinions when the Ghana News Agency sampled their views on how the rice was faring on the market.
Ten 10 consumers, a major distributor and nine retail shops were sampled.
The rice, which comes in 5kg, 25kg and 50kg of broken, long grain and perfumed packs, was lauded for its taste and quality.
"The rice tastes very nice when cooked and it also competes with the imported ones in quality and taste," said Mawusi Attamah, a shop attendant.
The retail price of the 5kg long grain and 5kg perfume of the Aveyime rice sell at nine cedis and 11 cedis respectively, the 25kg pack of both long
grain and perfumed cost 35.00 Ghana cedis and 50.00 Ghana cedis respectively.
A distributor said patronage of the rice could pick up if the prices are reduced.
Consumers, retailers and the main distributor were unanimous on the poor packaging of the rice especially the 5kg pack that they said easily splits
at the sides.
A shop attendant was of the view that any new rice on the market like the Aveyime rice would initially not be well dried and for that matter become
starchy when cooked but after six months to a year it becomes less starchy when cooked.
Some consumers alleged that some retailers were taking advantage of the poor packaging of the rice and repackaging it in other packs belonging to
its competitors while those with inferior quality were being repackaged into Volta Prairie (Aveyime) labelled sacks.
Some retailers said the rice which is in short supply in the municipality needed vigorous promotion in the media to catch on with the public.