Even though Ghana has access to water, arable land, and other favorable conditions for domestic rice production, Minister of Finance Ken Ofori-Atta has lamented the amount of imports into the country.

Although it is in a good position to cultivate and manufacture rice for domestic use and export, Ghana imports more than US$2 billion worth of rice yearly, according to him.

While we have access to water, fertile land, and favorable weather for growing crops, it is actually very criminal for the nation to keep importing rice to prevent any potential food crises.

“Since 2017, we’ve spent over a million dollars importing rice. What’s more embarrassing is that a country like Ukraine exports about 74 million tons of grains despite current conflicts, and you wonder why Ghana and Africa have fallen asleep.”

Ken Ofori-Atta made this known when he received a delegation of rice investors from Thailand led by Dr Joseph Siaw-Agyepong who is the Chief Executive Officer of the Jospong Group of Companies.

Touching on the implementation of the Ghana Cares ‘Obatanpa’ initiative, the Finance Minister said the programme seeks to offer an alternative to addressing the current economic crisis.

Ken Ofori-Atta was however optimistic that Thailand’s partnership with Ghana's private sector will lead to the commercialization of rice production geared toward reducing dependency on imports.

Meanwhile, Dr. Joseph Siaw-Agyepong on his part explained that the decision to venture into rice production will require technical knowledge and skills to increase yields.