Ghana imports large quantities of rice into the country as staple food but unknown to many Ghanaians there are over 250 thousand rice farmers nationwide who need to be assisted in their growing and production of local rice to meet the Ghanaian demand.

This revelation was made by the General Secretary of General Agricultural Workers Union,Mr. Ofei Nkansa in an interview.

He said whilst much attention and support is being given to the Aveyime rice farms and fields, focus should also be placed on local rice farmers mainly in the northern regions.

He said many of these farmers are not able to meet the demands and quality expected because they have not been assisted in the diverse ways to become competitive.

Rice production should also be strategised such that it will provide more employment to the youth in Ghana. Prairie Volta Ltd, managers of the Aveyime rice fields currently has a total number of 126 employees, 86 of them being permanent while about 50 are casual.

Mr. Nkansa advised that the authorities should work hard to ensure that rice is one of the products that enjoy external tariffs.

He expressed concern about the little being done to reduce marketing transation cost for agriculture producers to have a competitive urge.

Ghanadistricts.com/Anna Marian Ardayfio