CITI FM/TV boss appoints himself local rice consumption ambassador

The Chief Executive Officer of Citi FM/TV, Samuel Attah-Mensah has declared himself a campaigner for the consumption of locally-produced rice.

According to him, this is to reduce the government’s expenditure on rice imports by at least 50% in the next two years.

Ghana spends over $1.1 billion annually on importation of rice.

“I have appointed myself a campaigner for the consumption of locally-produced rice to reduce government’s expenditure on rice imports by at least 50% in the next two years. It is definitely possible,” he said.

Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Monday, Mr. Attah-Mensah called on stakeholders to come up with effective strategies to overcome the several challenges impeding the production of local rice and help Ghana achieve self-sufficiency in rice production and consumption.

He said that the country is wasting its resources on the importation of rice and this is a great disservice.

“We are doing ourselves a big disservice by using our hard-earned dollar to pay for rice from other countries. And I dare say that no matter what explanation and justification people give, if you are able to convince me about that, I may just ascribe it to laziness. It is a waste of our resources to be importing rice into the country,” he argued.

 

Though rice is one of the four main cereals produced and consumed in Ghana, aside maize, millet and sorghum, many believe that efforts made in the past to resolve the rice importation puzzle virtually failed to produce the desired results rendering it a seemingly intractable enterprise.

In terms of the total output of cereals (i.e. 1.6 million tonnes/year) maize contributed 59 percent, sorghum 19.6 percent, rice 10.8 percent and millet 10.6 percent.

The Akufo-Addo government earlier this year announced that, Ghana is to become self-sufficient in rice production by the year 2025.

The announcement which was part of the government’s newly introduced initiative on rice production, strategically structured as an arm of its flagship Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) programme, is aimed at boosting the production of the crop in the country.

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