
Ghana is at a cross roads due to the current Economic, Social and Political situations and thus Ghana requires an able and decisive Head of State, Head of National Executive Arm of Government and an effective Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces to reset Ghana and navigate her out of the current economic, social and political messes towards a Promised Land.
According to the Holy Bible, ‘It is God Who nominates a leader’ as stated at Romans 13.1. So the 2024 Presidential Election which resulted in an unprecedented victory by Presidential Candidate Mr JD Mahama, has made President Mahama to shoulder the mantle to navigate Ghana from the current mess towards the Promised Land.
Four national areas require effective decision making by President Mahama, These are (1) National Security Architecture (2) Changes of the Goggisburg’s/Nana Addo’s Economic templates to ensure Economic Improvement and Inclusive Growth, in order to ensure food security, poverty reduction, massive employment generation and massive wealth creation, effective import substitution policy to conserve foreign exchange and incase of massive surpluses in production to export to generate foreign exchange
The third or another area of national concern is the need for an effective Social Cohesion towards effective National Cohesion by changing our mindset, by changing our Ghanaian attitude of Pull Him Down (PHD) and our taste for foreign goods. Halt or reduce greatly our divisive tendencies, stop our buffoonery acts (including stakeholders engagement for us to stop the changing of the name of the Presidential Office and Presidential Villa or the Seat of the Government between Jubilee House and Flagstaff House dependent on the two main Political Parties, which is in power). It is therefore not a surprise that our childish Leaders have failed rather refused to make very good use of the National Development Planning Commission as provided by the Constitution as vehicle for homogenous Economy Planning for the Nation’s development Agenda.
Al change of our mindset, bearings and the stop of the buffoonery acts are necessary requirements for the economic improvement and inclusive growth efforts. The fourth concern is a major Amendment of the 1992 Constitution.
This paper, on the main topic on the Resetting of the National Economy through Agricultural Transformation that is changing of the Goggisburg/Nana Addo’s Economy Templates is going to deal with the need for stakeholders in the Agric and food security sector to see to the massive increase in the domestic production of rice of good quality for food security, import substitution, hence conserving of foreign exchange and may be to export rice to the sub region of West Africa or ECOWAS when necessary.
The Author, an Agriculturist and a student of Security Risk Management is therefore going to deal with the need for massive domestic rice production of good quality for Ghana to meet her national consumption so as to reduce rice importation and facilitate the much talked about 24hour economy, the dream of the President and people of Ghana. This writer, would later on by series of submissions deal with other areas of Agric production to change Ghana’s narrative for economic improvement and inclusive growth for the attainment and maintenance of the 24 hour economy. Hence he is going to be guided by the Principle of Selection and Maintenance of Aim, the First Principle of War or Business Success.
Reliable reports indicated that Ghana consumes about 1.5 million metric tonnes of milled rice yearly and produces about 900,000 metric tonnes of milled rice, hence a deficit of 500,000 metric tonnes of milled rice must be imported to meet the national consumption yearly.
On the average, paddy rice produces 25% husk, 10% bran and germ, and 65% white rice. Hence, good Milling of rice may provide 65% milled or white rice from paddy rice. So, for Ghana to produce 1.5 million metric tonnes of milled or white rice for yearly consumption, in order to at least halt the importation of rice, Ghana must produce not less than 2.31 million metric tonnes of paddy rice to be milled at 65% recovery rate to give at least 1.5 million metric tonnes of milled rice.
Ghana with the support of the International Communities especially the Governments of Korea, Japan, UNIDO etc and local Universities and Research Stations is working very hard for the possibility of getting a production of seven metric tonnes of paddy rice per hectare. But currently, the Volta Region gives the highest yield of paddy rice between 5 to 6metric tonnes per hectare, Eastern and Ashanti Regions give a yield around 4.5 metric tonnes per hectare and the yield in the North hovers around 4 metric tonnes per hectare. Yield of rice in other Regions hovers between 3 to 4 metric tonnes per hectare.
The average yield of rice in Ghana is reported to be hovering around 4 metric tonnes per hectare.
So, based on Ghana’s average yield of about 4 metric tonnes per hectare, so Ghana needs to put not less than 577,500 hectares of arable land under good water management for production of paddy rice to get the current requirement of 2.31 million metric tonnes of paddy rice. So, that on milling of the paddy rice at the 65% recovery rate to meet the local consumption of 1.5 million metric tonnes of milled or white rice. This necessary for Ghana to halt the current massive importation of rice to meet the current situation of the population explosion, the state of urbanization level, level of the educational institutions which among factors attribute to the very high consumption of rice in Ghana.
Currently, about 250,000 hectares of land in Ghana is used for the production of paddy rice and the total area of land under irrigation is 222,003 hectares. Rice takes between 130days (4.3months) and 136 days (4.5months) from sowing to harvesting. With this gestation period of a mean value of 4.4 months, so with the 222,003 hectares of land under irrigation, it is possible for two seasons of productions of rice on the same plot in a year of 12 months.
Good yield and overall results in including quality, sales etc are contingent on motivating the farmers, aggregators and millers, buyers by import restriction by ways of high taxes against importation of rice, to make local rice competitive, availability of credit facilities, the use of mechanization (for ploughing and harrowing or tilling, sowing or transplanting with good variety of rice, spraying of fertilizer, control of weeds and pests with weedicides and pesticide respectively, harvesting on time with combined Harvesters). Hence the urgent need for efficient Farmers Services Company for the affected areas.
The farmers and the Millers should also be motivated with good Agric infrastructure (roads, silos or storage or warehousing facilities, etc), transportation and marketing,
Since land under investigation may be used for cultivation of other crops, Ghana needs to increase the irrigation infrastructure or facilities and bring more upland and bottom valley or low land areas for rice production, that is if very positive impact is to be made in crop (cereals, fruit, vegetable etc) productions in Agriculture , .
It is reported that with a good variety, good soil and good agronomic practices (good land preparations or pre-planting process, good planting, weeding, pest control, fertilization application, good water management, good weather, good harvesting etc Ghana can attain 7 to 10 metric tonnes of paddy rice per hectare, as in the production of rice in some Countries like Vietnam, China, Korea, Thailand etc.
Ghana has a lot of problems in the rice production which need serious intervention. So, need for remedy of Shortage of skilled labour, need for tractors and combed harvesters, milling machines, storage facilities, access to finance cannot be over stressed. Other problems are with the harvesting and the post-harvest stage thus causing problem of maintaining quality standards to make Ghana’s rice competitive, This is so due to lack of enough combined harvesters and processing infrastructure, especially modern milling equipment or machines, lack of enough silos for the storage of paddy rice before milling, lack of enough quality standard testing for paddy and milled rice etc.
For Ghana to increase the production of rice massively, there is therefore the need for effective stakeholders collaborations. The Stakeholders including Regional and National relevant Institutions/personnel (farmers aggregators etc, Millers, traders/ consumers association leaders) for rice production. Likewise, friendly International Governments and Organizations like the Korean and Japanese Governments, the United Nations Industrial Development Organizations (UNIDO), FAO, USAID etc. This collaborative effort is needed to see to the improving the rice project, improving technology and the Quality Control System for higher Addition in post-harvest processes of the Rice Value Chain in order to upgrade the quality assurance system in the value chain, especially on crop management and post-harvest processes.
There is (also the need for the provision of the following (a) subsidized improved seeds to farmers, (b). supply of subsidized fertilizers to farmers. (c). Provision of extension services, (e). Marketing plans to mop up the produce, (f). Need for electronic platform for undertaking important activities in the food and Agric sector.
Rice Farmers and Millers sometimes in the past found it very difficult to get buyers for their rice due to competition from a lower price of imported rice as result of reduction of the benchmark value on imported rice, so the Government should be guided by this not to hamper massive production of rice.
Ghana has considerable potential in agriculture especially for rice production particularly in the Northern Savannah Ecological Zone (NSEZ), Volta Region (Kpong/Afefe/Nkwanta, the Afram Plains and the Ahafo Brong/Bono and some parts of Central Region. So, rice production or the agricultural sector provides huge opportunities for this Country.
A typical rice supply chain is made of multifaceted network of public and private entities that links the rice producers (the farmers), rice harvesters, transporters, rice millers, rice collectors or Aggregators and rice wholesalers/traders/retailers and food processors and the final consumers. Other stakeholders include transporters, companies that supply seeds, agrochemicals and agricultural equipment, irrigation companies, inspection agencies, government departments of commerce, of tax, and agriculture and other state agencies involving matters related to rice production. Hence the Ministry of Agric and Food Security deals with mainly Agribusiness and must be preserved as such and provided with enough funds and no parallel institutions should be established to derail the Agric Sectors role in the National Economy Sector. The Agric Sector could therefore help solve Ghana’s quest for effective 24 hour economy.
To conclude, Ghana simple needs improvement in public expenditure allocation for the Agricultural sector, that is reasonable public investments in Research and Development, Mechanization (tractors, power tillers, transplanters, combined harvesters, rice millers etc). Also enough funds for Agric infrastructure development and maintenance (irrigations, roads, silos or warehouses, greenhouses poultry, houses, fish ponds) and other areas/actions, necessary to sustain Ghana’s agricultural growth, these include management and budget coordination in agriculture, improvement on the collection and analysis of agricultural data to produce excellence and authentic data for planning as well as proper use and servicing of equipment.
The Agricultural sector for rice production a needs a coherent import substitution policy by restriction of imports of rice and up scaling the production of rice to reverse the huge expenditure in the importation of Rice. Hence as stated, there is the need for increasing in the efficiency and quality of public spending in agriculture as well as the need for improving the regulatory framework, good market, provision of incentives including credit facilities to farmers, warehouse operators, and millers and to attract more private investment into the sector.