Ghana To Follow Nigeria’s Example, Set To Ban Rice Importation

The Ghanaian government has set a target of three years to put a stop to rice importation in the country.

This was disclosed by the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Kennedy Nyarko Osei in an interview with Accra-based Kingdom FM 107.7.

Osei said Ghana was working round the clock to stop the importation of rice into the county based on recent projections.

 “We import billion dollars of rice into the country, but the Agric Ministry, led by Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, is determined that by the end of 2022 we will stop importing rice from other countries based on our projections.

“The two crops we are focusing on are rice and soya; soya because of the poultry industry and rice because of import substitution.”

It will be recalled that Ghana recently put pressure on Nigeria to open its borders for goods from other countries.

President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria had ordered the closure of Nigeria’s borders to stem the importation of goods with local substitutes, especially rice.

The border closure came after years of ban by the Central Bank of Nigeria to access foreign exchange by importers of 43 prohibited products.

The Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service, retired Colonel Hameed Ali, said within one week of the closure of Nigeria’s borders, over 500,000 bags of locally manufactured rice that had been lying in warehouses of the producers were sold.

According to available information, rice constitutes 82 percent Ghana’s import, accounting for $1 billion which translate to almost 2 percent of Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product,