Call to re-channel funds from imported rice
Ghana Rice inter Professional Body, an advocacy group which seeks to promote the rice industry in the coutnry has called on government to channel funds generated from the tariffs on imported rice into a rice development fund to be used by rice farmers to develop the sector.
The group made the call at a workshop organized in Accra.
It appealed to Ghanaians to patronize the local rice whose quality can be compared to that of imported rice generally. The group said the consumption of local rice will help bring down the price of rice.
In another development, the Director of Plant Protection Unit of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Vesper Soglo has expressed worry over the wrong utilization of land, seeds and fertilizers in the country.
He said the inefficient use of farm inputs contributes to the acute food shortage in the country.
Mr. Soglo called on farmers to modernize their operations to ensure food security.
He urged the seed producers Association of Ghana (seedPag) to support the Youth in Agriculture Programme to generate employment and mitigate the rural urban migration.