An estimated 1,000,000 metric tonnes of paddy rice valued at GH¢5billion remain unsold in farming communities across the country due to a severe shortage of buyers.
This has compelled major millers to suspend operations as the domestic market is being overwhelmed by the influx of cheap, substandard rice smuggled into the country.
This crisis has been further aggravated by the state procurement system’s failure to prioritise the purchase of locally produced rice, leaving over one million farmers with potentially substantial losses and threatening sustainability of the local rice industry.
In view of this, smallholder farmers and agribusiness operators called for a ban on the importation of rice, maize and soybean for six (6) months to allow clearance of existing Ghanaian-produced stocks at various warehouses which are affecting local businesses and investments.
The Association, led by Mad. Abdul-Aziz Jawharatu – a commercial farmer, presented the petition to President John Mahama through the Northern Regional Minister Ali Adolf John Mburidiba at the Northern Regional Coordinating Council in Tamale.
The committee’s petition was presented to promote Ghana rice, maize and soya commodities on behalf of rice producers and millers, Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG), Ghana Rice Inter-Professional Body (GRIB), Ghana Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU), Chamber of Agribusiness Ghana, Soya Value Chain Association, National Seed Trade Association of Ghana (NASTAG), NETCAP, Rice Millers Association and other allied farmer groups and networks.
The grain economy contributes approximately 20% of national Gross Domestic Product (GDP), while in rural Ghana 9 out of every 10 families depend directly or indirectly on agriculture, they said.
“We the Ghanaian farmers, farmer cooperatives, women grain traders, aggregators, millers, Ghanaian grain value chain operators, agribusiness networks, rice, maize and soya farming communities across the country are petitioning Your Excellency to urgently come to our rescue because we are in distress,” they said.
“We are facing an escalating crisis of lacking market for our produce, namely rice, maize and soya – three major grains that form the backbone of Ghana’s food security basket – and the situation is threatening to throw millions of Ghanaian women and youth out of their jobs and collapse the Ghanaian grain value chain if Your Excellency does not rise up and address the matter with the urgency it deserves,” they noted.
In 2024, Ghana produced about 3.6 million metric tonnes of maize. But with the poultry sector’s collapse and unfair competition from cheap imports, farmers are being forced to sell at giveaway prices – or not to harvest at all, they said.
Once a symbol of growth and youth employment, soya processing and market demand are collapsing due to weak local industry support and absence of support for local markets – and the ban on export of local grains including soya has further aggravated the situation, they explained.
According to the Associations, “Harvesting season is almost ended, but the usual hordes of buyers who come to the field and purchase our produce are nowhere to be seen because they cannot find buyers for their products”.
Our livelihoods depend on sustainable agriculture and Ghana’s grain economy that feeds the teeming millions of our city-dwellers, they said.
The Northern Regional Minister received the petition and expressed gratitude to contributors in the economy, assuring of government swift intervention to address their grievances within the agricultural sector to boost food productions and security.
He noted that efforts will be made to ensure local products are patronized by government and the private sector to cushion their businesses in growing the economy.
