Mr Kwamena Bartels, Minister of Private Sector Development on Wednesday urged Ghanaians to make the patronage of locally produced goods a personal crusade to support the government?s efforts to reduce the level of import-based consumption.

He said Ghana's success as a nation in the import reduction drive would depend, to a very large extent on the patronage Ghanaians would give local Ghanaian products and gave an assurance that the Private Sector Development Ministry would collaborate with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, all relevant state agencies to push forward the agenda in most practical terms.

Mr Bartels was speaking in Accra on behalf of the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Major (rtd) Courage Quashigah at the official launching of three brands of locally produced rice. The brands-Goldstar, Silver Line and Omu Tuo-were produced by the Kpong Irrigation Project (KIP) with financial support from the MOFA. They are distributed by IMEXCO Ghana Limited, a rice and grains distribution company.

Each of the brands is bagged in 25 kilograms. The Omu Tuo brand is 100 per cent broken while the Goldstar is seven per cent broken. The showroom prices are 85,000 cedis for Goldstar, 75,000 for Omu Tuo, and 80,000 cedis for Silver

Star.

Wednesday's launching brings to three, locally Ghanaian produced rice launchings this year in an effort to raise the level of rice production in the country and reduce its importation by 30 per cent by the year 2004, as promised by the Food and Agriculture Minister upon his appointment in 2001.

The first was the launching of Sikamo, True True and Generation brands in Kumasi for the Northern sector, and the second the Afife No.1 brand rice in Accra. Mr Bartels commended the MOFA for taking concrete actions to reduce rice imports, but told local rice producing groups that the battle had just begun and it would be too early to start patting themselves on the back, saying the launching was just a mere symbolic event.

He said reduction in rice imports would reduce the drain on the national economy and also ensure food security and possibly turn the country into a net exporter of rice and other staples. Mr Mike Gizo, MP Shai Osudoku Constituency, in which the project is located, expressed satisfaction at the success of the project.

He said Asutuare, one of the project sites has been noted with problems bordering on rice and rice production. Mr Gizo commended the government for its support to the project and expressed the hope that the project would become a living testimony for the people of the area, and urged the rice growers working on the project to work within the order of the day by listening to technical advice to increase their yields.

The Reverend Father Jones Okai, Financial and Administrative Manager of IMEXCO Ghana Limited warned unscrupulous distributing outlets to stop bagging the rice brands as US No.5 and selling them for higher prices, saying a police task force team has been formed to arrest and prosecute such distributors.