The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) has commissioned a team of Ghanaian engineers and technicians to manufacture 50 rice threshers locally to help improve the quality of rice production in the country.

In addition, the ministry has successfully reactivated the boiler at the Nasia Rice Project at Tamale, which was declared unserviceable for a long period, to boost rice production in the Northern Region.

The sector Minister, Major Courage Quashigah (rtd), who disclosed this in an interview, said these are some of the measures instituted to improve the quality and volume of rice production locally to help reduce the country’s over dependence on imported rice.

Ghana’s rice imports for 2000 stood at $100 million, which the ministry plans to reverse. He said the ministry is determined to encourage the cultivation and consumption of locally produced rice through the application of appropriate technology.

Accordingly, he said, the ministry has commissioned local technicians and engineers to manufacture rice threshers to ensure the production of quality rice to meet the taste and expectations of Ghanaians who are so attracted to imported rice as a result of its attractive packaging.

Major Quashigah said the engineers and technicians have already produced two of such threshers, which are in use, and explained that the additional 50 threshers are meant to facilitate rice production and make locally-produced rice not only attractive in packaging terms but acceptable in taste to the consumer.

He said one of the threshers has been sent to the Asutuare and Kpong Irrigation projects while the other has been allocated to the Northern Region.

The minister said both exhibitors and visitors to the just-ended AGRIFEX 2001 held at the Ghana International Trade Fair Centre were amazed at the samples of the new rice milling machines, which were on display and said those clearly demonstrated the efficiency and ingenuity of Ghanaian engineers and technicians.

Major Quashigah said what was quite revealing about the boiler at the Nasia Rice Project was the fact that it took only five days for an engineer sent there by the ministry to assess at first hand the problem with the facility, to reactivate the machine that had broken down for a long period of time.

Again, he said, a team of experts dispatched to Kumasi has successfully put to use some silos, which have not been operational for the past 20 years. The minister said other interventions have been planned to facilitate and improve rice production in the country on sustainable basis to boost agricultural productions.