Editorial: Rice importation must be curtailed if Ghana is now food sufficient

The Minister for Food and Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, on Tuesday, this week, showcased the gains in Ghana’s agric sector, indicating that the country is fast becoming West Africa’s food basket.

According to him, food exports to neighbouring countries between 2017 and September 2020 has seen an increase to 508,000 metric tonnes with a value of GH¢719 million, emphasising that in the same period, food inflation decreased from 9.7% with a positive impact on overall inflation.

He has attributed the positive development to the implementation of the government’s flagship, Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) programme, and its associated modules, such as the Rearing for Food and Jobs (RFJ) and the Planting for Export and Rural Development (PERD).

Addressing the seventh edition of the Nation Building Update in Accra, the Minister emphasised that since agriculture is the mainstay of the Ghanaian economy, the significant investment in the sector by the government had created food security and was gradually producing yields for export into neighboring countries like Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin and Cote d’Ivoire, while creating jobs in the process.

Without food and water, it will be very difficult for mankind to survive on Planet Earth. It is, therefore, refreshing news that Ghana has been able to produce enough to feed herself and was exporting the surplus to earn foreign exchange for the country. But, despite this remarkable achievement, it is also important to note that the country is still spending billions of dollars each passing year on the importation of food and related items.

Whilst addressing the Trades Union Congress in 2018, the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, revealed that food imports cost the nation an average of US$2.4 billion every year. This, according to him, meant that about GH¢10.8 billion (one dollar to GH¢4.5 at the time) was used to import rice, sugar, sorghum, frozen chicken and meat, among other food items, for domestic and industrial consumption on an annual basis.

He continued that at US$2.4 billion, the cost of food imports is about a quarter of the value of non-oil imports, which closed 2017 at US$10.66 billion. He blamed the development on the strong appetite Ghanaians have for imported consumables.

The Chronicle cannot but agree with the Finance Minister about our appetite for foreign foods, especially rice. But, in our view, the consumer cannot be hung over this insatiable demand, because, per the Agric Ministry’s own account, in 2017 Ghana produced 721,610 tonnes of rice but consumed 1.3 million tonnes within the same period. This means there was a 580,300 tonnes deficit, which was apparently filled by the foreign imports.

But the encouraging words from the Agric Minister during his Tuesday’s address – that Ghana is now exporting food to neighbouring countries – presupposes that we have overcome the rice production deficit. If this is the true reflection of what is happening on the ground, then there is no need to keep on importing rice and depleting our foreign exchange reserves.

The Chronicle advises the Agric Ministry to start implanting a policy whereby all foreign imports of rice will be banned. The ministry must also conscientise Ghanaians to understand the need to eat what they grow and grow what they eat. As we have already alluded to, we cannot afford to use our scarce foreign exchange to import food and related items, when there are enough substitutes on the domestic market.

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