Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku, Minister of Trade and Industry, on Tuesday urged domestic rice producers to take the challenge posed by government to boost local rice production at an affordable rate.

Dr Apraku said government was considering measures to increase domestic production of rice to reduce reliance on imported rice and conserve foreign exchange.

He was speaking at a meeting in Accra with some members of the Rice Producers Association to discuss the increase of the import duty on rice from 20 per cent to 25 per cent announced in this year's budget statement.

The meeting was also to ascertain some of the problems facing local rice producers and how to mitigate them.

"Ghana imports large quantities of rice ranging between 120,000 to 150,000 tonnes annually, which accounts for about 58 per cent of the national consumption."

The Minister said Ghana's trade policy intervention needed to be considered alongside the readiness with which domestic producers of rice could respond to any gap in supply.

He said one key area of government's attention was in the production of staple crops, especially cereals such as rice, maize and sorghum.

"Among the cereals rice has assumed very high national prominence because it is now consumed not only in the urban centres but in the rural areas."

Dr Apraku noted that when domestic rice production was increased it would not only reduce over reliance of imports but also create employment and conserve foreign exchange

He told the rice producers that the Ministries of Trade and Industry, Food and Agriculture and Finance were working out modalities to ensure that farmers would have greater accessibility to credit facilities in order to increase rice yields in the coming years.

He advised the producers not to take advantage of the five per cent increase on imported rice to increase the prices of local rice.

"We should not forget that we need to produce more local rice to feed the entire nation at a cheaper price."

Mr Kwesi Poku, a rice miller and distributor of local rice, commended government for taking the bold step in this year's budget to protect the interest of local rice producers.

Mr Poku, however, said there were numerous problems facing local rice farmers, millers and buyers.

He said one of the biggest challenges included shops to sell their finished products, means to promote their products and high interest rates on loans taken from the banks.

"We do not have collateral that would enable us to secure enough capital from the banks to purchase more paddy rice from the farmers who are mostly located in the hinterland.

"As a result a large quantity of paddy rice is locked up in the hinterland."