Take a spoonful of rice and set it on fire. What happens next will make you tick.
China remains the largest rice producer in the world. The Middle Empire harvests more than 200 million tons of rice a year and a large number is exported all over the world.
Farmers group has called on the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to consider a young relentless farmer as the Minister for the sector following the resignation of Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, the Minister of Agric.
In a statement released by the group, they mentioned that the young farmer could not be any other person than Nana Oboadie Boateng Bonsu who has the interest of the farmers at heart.
The statement reads:
It has come to our notice that Minister of Agric has resigned to join the Npp Presidential race and we wish him good luck for taking such a bold decision. We also thank the minister for his hard work and the initiative: Planting for Food and Jobs and Rearing for Food and Jobs.
we want to use this medium to inform the President to consider we the farmers when appointing new minister to such a prestigious office.
The collation of all the farmers in Ghana is proposing Nana Oboadie Boateng Bonsu who is the president of the Concerned Framers Association of Ghana to President to appoint him as the Minister of Agricultural.
Nana Oboadie Boateng Bonsu has been in the agric sector for the past 25 Yeats and have work with various farmer groups in Ghana.
He is very hard working ,voice for the farmers, he has tour the breath and length of this country and know the challenges the sector is facing and he has converted thousands of galamsey youth into farming .
He is the farmers choice and we believe that he will deliver .
we are therefore asking the President to appoint him to be the Minister of Agric.
Try and tested.
Gustav Annor
Communication Director
The Minister for Food and Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto has resigned.
He tendered his resignation to President Akufo-Addo a while ago.This comes four days after Trade Minister, Alan John Kwadwo Kyerematen, resigned from the government.
JoyNews Presidential Affairs correspondent, Elton Brobbey, in an interview on News Night on Joy FM, Tuesday said the Minister had a meeting with President where he submitted the letter.
Our correspondent said the President accepted Dr Akoto’s resignation and wished him well in his endeavours.
Ostensibly, this is to enable Dr Afriyie Akoto concentrate on his presidential ambition.
Dr Afriyie Akoto is one of the NPP stalwarts eyeing the flagbearership position of the party for the 2024 elections.
Besides he and Mr. Alan Kyerematen, Mr. Kwabena Agyapong, Mr. Kennedy Agyapong, Mr. Joe Ghartey and Mr. Boagye Agyarko have all declared their intention to contest the flagbearership of the NPP.
Meanwhile, the party is yet to come out with a date for the presidential primaries.
Speaking on the same show, Henry Nana Boakye, National Organiser of NPP, said a date will be set for the election “in accordance with our constitution.”
The National Food Buffer Stock Company Limited have been tasked to get in touch with local foodstuffs suppliers to deliver about 20 per cent of food needs to each school.
The remaining 80 per cent of the food items are expected to be in the schools a week or two after the arrival of the students to enable the government to settle part of its more than GH¢300 million indebtedness to suppliers.
The President of the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS), Rev. Fr Stephen Owusu Sekyere said, he is aware some schools had taken delivery of food items such as maize, rice and beans, saying the rest were yet to receive theirs.
He indicated that per the information CHASS had received, food supplies are on their way to the various regions and the schools should take delivery of them by the close of today.
Food getting in the schools
From the Upper East Region, school authorities in SHSs are ready to receive first-year and continuing students to begin the new academic year.
However, checks indicated that many of the schools had not yet received food supplies ahead of the commencement of academic work.
The Chairman of the Upper East Regional branch of CHASS, Richard Akumbas Ayabilla, said only two out of the 26 SHSs in the region had received some food items from local suppliers.
“Since the schools owe local suppliers huge sums of money, the suppliers are not willing to supply more food items, especially the perishable ones, on credit,” he said.
He called on the government to urgently make funds available to enable the schools to pay local suppliers, while awaiting food items from the Buffer Stock Company.
The Headmistress of the Bolgatanga Girls’ SHS, Patricia Agoteba Anaba, said although the staff were ready to receive the students, food items were not yet in.
However, she said the school expected to receive food items from the government by the close of yesterday.
Ms Anaba expressed the hope that while the students would start arriving from this morning, the food items would be received in time to feed them.
The Headmistress of the Kongo SHS, Gifty Ayamba, noted that the school was ready and had put in place measures to receive the students.
From Koforidua in the Eastern Region, Daily Graphic checks indicate that two schools, the Ghana SHS (GHANASS) and the Oti Boateng SHS, were fully prepared to receive continuing students.
The Headmistress of GHANASS, Patience Naki Mensah, said at least 20 boarding students had arrived as of yesterday and the kitchen staff were ready to provide them with meals.
She said under normal circumstances, such students should have waited for today to be fed along with other students who might have arrived on the opening day.
At the Oti Boateng SHS, the situation was the same and the Headmaster, John Hawkson Arthur, said adequate preparations to make boarding students feel at home on their arrival had been completed.
“We have made all the necessary arrangements to make the arriving boarding students happy to stay without any hindrance. “Those responsible for the provision of food are also ready to play their part,” Mr Arthur said.
Buffer Stock.
The Buffer Stock Company started supplies last Wednesday and would continue until bulk suppliers in charge of delivering 80 per cent of the food needs of the schools stepped in, a source at the company told the Daily Graphic.
The strategy, it said, had been adopted since it took some time for the bulk suppliers to reach the schools.
“So while waiting for that bulk to come in, we asked our regional managers to liaise with local suppliers, so that they will handle 20 per cent of supplies,” the source said.
It added that “so far the items are trickling in at the various schools”
.The source at the Buffer Stock Company added that its information collected from across the country indicated that food items were reaching the various schools.
Over one hundred (100) cocoa farmers in Denkyira Breman in the Central Region have issued a stern warning to Perseus Mining (Ghana) Limited (PMGL), underscoring that the company risks having its equipment destroyed if they find them on their farmlands.
According to the visibly livid farmers, who say they have not given out their lands to Perseus Mining, any move by the company to ‘forcibly take over their lands’ grown with cocoa and other food and cash crops, “would incur their wrath!”
Addressing a press conference in Denkyira Breman in the Central Region recently, the Chief Farmer of the town, Emmanuel Boapong (aka Bojers), who acted as the Spokesperson for the farmers, cautioned that they will “set ablaze any mining equipment of Perseus found on their farmlands,” especially when they have not leased out their lands to the company.
He stressed that the over 100 farmers in Denkyira Breman who have no reason to sell their lands to Perseus cannot fathom why the mining company was hell-bent on taking possession of their lands.
“Our warning to Perseus is that we will burn any of their machines found on our farmlands. We have told them time without number that we will not give our lands to them for mining, and that we are content with our farming business, yet their machines are often found on our lands” the chief farmer stated.
According to the chief farmer, they have already informed both the Police Commanders at the Diaso District Police Command and the Dunkwa Divisional Police Command about their resolve to do everything humanly possible to protect their lands from the prying eyes of Perseus.
He questioned the motive behind the recent deployment of about 17 armed police officers from the Central Regional Police Command to the farmland of a widow, Madam Esther Konadu, who is also a farmer.
“In fact we have reason to believe that Perseus is ready to go the extra-mile to take the lands of especially farmers who are unwilling to lease out their lands to them,” he noted.
As a result, Mr. Boapong called on the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Dr. George Akuffo Dampare, to, as a matter of urgency, cause an investigation into the incident that saw staff members of Perseus drive their excavator, a drilling machine and other machines to the farmland of the widow.
Furthermore, he called on the Akufo-Addo administration to step in before the matter becomes messy!
The Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC) Ghana is demanding a significant reduction in the prices of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), after prices of some petroleum products fell in the recent pricing window.
The Chamber’s call is coming at a time prices of diesel and petrol went down by about 8% on January 1, 2023.
However, prices of LPG remained unchanged. The LPG Marketers Association of Ghana has blamed the situation on high taxesBut speaking to Joy Business, Executive Secretary of COPEC, Duncan Amoah said there is no justification for LPG prices to remain unchanged.
“LPG should have seen the highest decline in terms of price per kilogram which should be around 20% in the past windows. We don’t think there is enough justification at this point that they are not going to reduce the price of LPG at this point”.
He added that his outfit will soon be engaging the LPG Marketers for a possible reduction in the price of the product.
“We will try to engage them forthwith to ensure that what is due the consumer now is not denied them simply because of the call for taxes to be reduced on LPG”.
Vice President of the LPG Marketers Association of Ghana Gabriel Kumi had earlier indicated prices of LPG will fall only when there is a cut in some taxes.
According to him, prices of LPG should not be determined by the demand and supply in the market, but government should implement policies key to support players in the industry.
The General Agriculture Workers Union (GAWU) has appealed to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to prioritise the supply of fertilisers and seedlings ahead of the planting season under the Planting for Food and Jobs programme.
This, according to GAWU, will help resolve serious challenges faced by farmers in the past two years in purchasing fertilisers ahead of the season leading to low output.
Speaking to Joy Business, the General Secretary of GAWU, Edward Kareweh, said farmers need to get fertilisers on time to be able to handle critical issues that may arise during the farming season.
He warned that failure to adequately supply the farm inputs could negatively affect yields in the harvesting season.
“In 2021, farmers did not get fertilisers at the right time. This is very critical to handle. If you do not get fertilisers at the right time, or you even get the fertilisers late and you apply it, you will not get the appropriate results”, he said.
Mr. Kareweh recalled that farmers had to struggle to buy fertilisers at prices over 80% the original price due to lack of the farm inputs.
“For the past two years, farmers have been struggling across all the crop areas. If you talk about maize, tomatoes, soyabeans. Farmers planting these crops have struggled in the last two years. It has been a desperate period for farmers”, he lamented.
Touching on food inflation, he stated that a pragmatic policy on the supply of fertilisers could help drive food prices down, hence inflation.
As the new year begins, it’s a great time to think about new opportunities in Africa’s agribusiness and food industries. This list of nine potential ideas for 2023 is meant to stimulate initial thought and further investigation, rather than provide definite opportunities or comprehensive business plans.
Francis Ampofo, nicknamed “The Pocket Battleship”, was a Commonwealth flyweight champion but lost four world title bouts
Chairman of Competitive African Rice Platform, Ghana Chapter, Yaw Adu Poku says the local rice sector has now received an ‘angel investor’ to maximise and promote the production of local rice.
He said after several pleadings and solicits, he managed to secure an investment from the Jospong Group for the rice sector.
According to him, the Jospong Group had already paid a visit to Thailand to understudy Ghana’s failure to survive in local rice production.
Mr Poku noted that the company, this month paid flight tickets for thirty-three experts from Thailand to be in Ghana for the next year for a full-scale study to identify the gaps in Ghana’s rice production.
“Now we have an angel investor in the rice sector so next year you will see a different story altogether. Somehow I solicited, pleaded, and begged on my knees and I got the Jospong Group’s involvement.
“This man did not only come in, he went to Thailand to understudy why Ghana cannot produce rice, and then just this month he has brought in thirty-three experts from Thailand on his own ticket to live in Ghana for the next year.
“He wants them to do a full- cycle for us to understand where the gaps are, that is the angel investor we have,” he said on Newsfile, Saturday, December 24.
For this reason, Mr Poku is optimistic that the narrative about the local rice sector would be different from 2023.
In 2020, Ghana spent $ 391 million on the importation of rice, becoming the 20th largest importer of rice in the world. In the same year, the country recorded rice as the 3rd most imported product.
Over nine million tonnes of rice was imported into the West African sub-region, representing about $3.4 billion of import bill in 2021.
In 2019, the Government began a campaign to promote local rice and improve the production of the product.
The “Eat Ghana Rice” campaign is part of a series of initiatives that have been rolled out under an Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) funded project to improve rice production in Ghana.
However, the campaign seems to have not yielded enough results as the country continues to surge in the importation of rice.
In this regard, some Ghanaians have called on government to replicate Nigeria’s ban on the importation of rice in 2015 to boost the local sector.
