Minister for Food and Agriculture Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto has projected that the country would have reached self-sufficiency with about 29,000 metric tonnes as surplus to spare by 2023.

0

He said rice production had jumped from 138,000 metric tonnes in 2016 to 665,000 in 2019.

1

He He attributed this achievement to the introduction of the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) initiative introduced by the Akufo-Addo administration.

2

The PFJ programme is a Government of Ghana (GoG) designed and implemented programme aiming to promote growth in food production and create jobs across the country.

3

The programme is structured around 5 Pillars. These include: ¬ Seed; ¬ Fertilizer; ¬ Extension Services; ¬ Marketing; and ¬ e-Fertilizer & Monitoring

4

Dr Akoto Afryie said : “With all these, within two years, the country would be self-sufficient in rice production so there will be no need for us to spend the millions of dollars a year to import rice,” he said.

5

The minister disclosed this during an interaction with farmer groups and value chain operators in the agricultural sector in the Bono, Bono East and the Ashanti regions, last week.

6

He was accompanied by one of his deputies, Mr George Oduro, and sectional directors of the ministry.

7

Source: laudbusiness.com

8