The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) said that it was providing local rice producers with better machines to produce high quality rice in the north as it champions a campaign for Ghanaians to patronise locally produced rice.

He said the Ministry was also ensuring that the right seed, known as "sativa seed", is planted to improve the quality. Mr Aggrey-Fynn said the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) in collaboration with the Ministry was supporting private rice brokers to buy paddy rice, mill and market it. The Ministry has been urging the public to patronise locally produced rice, which is nutritious, to cut down on huge import bill of rice.

The government last month increased the import duty on rice from 20 percent to 25 percent to enhance the competitiveness of the local industry. Finance Minister Yaw Osafo-Maafo noted in his budget statement that Ghana currently imported about 120,000 tonnes of rice annually, accounting for about 58 percent of total national consumption. However, he said, the country had the natural resources for the production of rice and the government intended to increase domestic production of rice in order to reduce reliance on imports and thereby conserve foreign exchange.

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) last week lauded this policy but said in order not to create a shortfall in the availability of the products, the government should give real support to encourage all-year round production.

Mr Aggrey-Fynn urged Ghana Prisons Service, hospitals and other government institutions to patronize locally produced rice to guarantee market for producers. He noted that imported rice was preferred because it was free of foreign materials given the high milling technology employed in those countries. Some local rice brokers therefore, bagged local rice in foreign bags to ensure quicker patronage.