Northern Star Rice Launched

Mrs. Comfort Aniagyei (Left) being helped by other dignitaries at the ceremony to launch the Northern Star parboiled rice.

GhanaMade, a Ghanaian-owned company that promotes and markets locally manufactured products, has launched another brand of locally grown and milled rice, Northern Star parboiled rice at a short ceremony in Tema.

The launch of Northern Star parboiled rice, according to the Managing Director (MD) of GhanaMade, Comfort Aniagyei was in line with GhanaMade's policy of ensuring that locally grown and milled rice are promoted throughout the country.

'GhanaMade has made a promise to serve as the bridge between producers of local products and consumers. The launching of Northern Star parboiled rice here today is a clear indication that we are living up to our promise,' Ms. Aniagyei said.

She said GhanaMade intends to set up outlets throughout the country. The company presently has fifteen outlets in Greater Accra and Eastern regions.

Explaining the rationale behind GhanaMade's decision to launch the rice, she said it was to encourage Ghanaians to patronize locally grown and milled rice, a development she said would go a long way to help improve the economy of the country.

The MD said Northern Star rice has been 'properly sorted out and de-stoned and is of high quality standard that could be served during any occasion and festivity,' adding that 'it has come to add to three existing locally grown and milled brands of rice, 'Oman Ba, Dada Ba and Gold Star marketed in all the outlets.'

She revealed that GhanaMade sells a variety of products including cocoa products, cashew products, shea butter that are being produced in Ghana today.

According to her, an increase in the consumption of made in Ghana products could act as the much-needed catalyst for the achievement of the country's developmental goals.

'Let us just consider these few agricultural sub-sectors of interest rice, cocoa, sugar, tomatoes, maize, coconut, cooking oil, cotton, poultry etc. These sub-sectors if supported would yield a lot of benefits to Ghana in terms of enhancing the health and nutritional value of diets and providing a huge potential for job creation along the value chain from research, cultivation, processing, transportation of both raw materials and finished products, technology transfer etc' she stated.

'We can confirm to government that there is heightened interest and activity in the local rice sub-sector and if government can sustain its interventions in the form of fiscal policies, provision of physical infrastructure etc, we believe that Ghana can reverse this disastrous trend where importation is the by-word for rice,' Mrs. Aniagyei said.

The guest speaker at the ceremony, Prof. Lardy Worsonu, a medical doctor and consultant and the chairman for the occasion, Joseph Gayin of the CSIR- Food Research Institute took turns to address the gathering and urged them to patronize made in Ghana products.

By Razak Mardorgyz Abubakar, Tema