The Deputy Minister of Agriculture, George Oduro has said that the ministry has put measures in place to reduce the importation of rice by at least half by the end of this year.
According to Mr Oduro, this is to ensure that more Ghanaians consume locally produced rice.
Ghana, currently, imports 331 million dollars of rice annually, a development stakeholders have described as worrying.
Bur Mr Oduro in an interview with Accra-based Citi FM that measures such as the ‘planting for food and jobs’ as well as the newly introduced irrigation land facility system should help reduce the importation of rice by half.
“This year alone, our target to stop the importation of rice by 50 percent, maybe we can achieve that or more.” He said.
He further indicated that the importation of tomatoes will equally reduce it soon since they are putting in place measures to address this.
“Then tomatoes too, we are trying by the end of this year to stop the importation of tomatoes and if possible export.”
He, however, called for a collaborative effort to achieve this feat.
“We are putting measures to stop this importation of these food items because the possibility of us producing them here is there, we can. But only if we come together to show the interest. That is the only way we can solve this problem.”
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