Dr. George Domfeh, a Development Economist, has urged the government to form a committee to significantly boost production of rice.
While praising the government’s plan to reduce rice imports, he stated that the key to the country reducing rice imports rest in the establishment of a working committee that would bring on board stakeholders in the value chain of rice to discuss ways to robustly implement the plan.
Dr. Domfeh made the call last Friday at an economic forum hosted by the Danquah Institute in Accra.
“Ghana imports $1.2 billion worth of rice annually. This can be reduced drastically if we concentrate on local production of rice,”he stated.
Dr Domfeh proposed that in order to ensure that there were no lapses as local rice began to take a greater share of the market, the committee would devise, monitor and engage people within the rice sector.
“This will include varieties for production, processing, marketing and final consumption,” he stated.
He added, “ the government must set up a rice committee to help local rice production. Importers of rice, farmers and political parties must be part of this committee to look at ways to grow rice locally.”
He also asserted that doing so would not only halt the sharp decline of the cedi, but would also create employment for Ghanaians who would earn more and pay taxes to support development and economic growth.
Dr. Domfeh stated that the inability to implement such initiatives over the years had attributed to the high demand for foreign exchange for imports, which contributed to the rush to international bond markets to borrow to shore up forex reserves.
“We have to manage our economy well by simply paying attention to some of the key sectors that drive economic growth, “ he said.
To that end, he proposed that the agriculture and manufacturing sectors be connected, and that agricultural raw materials be converted into finished products through production.
