Accra, July 19, GNA - The Ghana Rice Inter-Professional Body (GRIB), with support from the Business Support and Advocacy Challenge (BUSAC), on Tuesday advocated for the establishment of Rice Development Fund to resourc= e the rice industry.

The establishment of the fund is to provide capital for rice farmers t= o undertake several activities within the rice sector. Mr John Awuni, President of GRIB, announced this at the opening of a four-day stakeholders' advocacy training workshop for rice farmers across the country in Accra.

The workshop is to equip participants to undertake advocacy roles in the establishment of the fund and other activities in the rice sector. The event has been organized with support from the Danish Internationa= l Development Agency and the United States Agency for International Development.

Mr Awuni said the fund would be directed towards activities needed to develop the sector, including land development, irrigation, equipment supply, access to credit and other value chain operations. He said rice continued to gain importance in the share of staples in the Ghanaian diet, arising from rapid population growth and urbanisation. Mr Awuni said the annual rate of rice imports was accelerating at a fast pace and far exceeded local production. He explained that the country needed to develop more land for rice production as well as improve existing structure s and facilities to increase local rice production.

He expressed the hope that by the end of the workshop participants would be equipped to better channel their grievances to the appropriate authorities.

On the issue of marketing, he called on the government to implement a policy to motivate local rice companies to market locally produced rice. Mr Manu Addade, Deputy Director of Crop Services at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, called on the Association to seek more funding to support their activities, especially irrigation. He said government had outlined programmes to rehabilitate various dam= s across the country to produce more local rice.

Dr Reuben Tettey, Business Advocacy Trainer, urged all stakeholders to be committed to the establishment of the fund, since it would help to improve the sector. He commended development partners for their support and expressed the hope that more funds would be given to support the development of the rice sector. Mr Duncan Amoah, a rice farmer, told the Ghana News Agency that the sector faced a lot of challenges including machinery, credit facility and the source of quality rice for production. He said there was a good market for the commodity but complained that farmers were not in control of the price, thus making life difficult for them.