Ghana launches 18.8 million dollar rice project
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Ghanaian Times
Illustrative image · Musaddek Sayek · Pexels · Licence PexelsGhana’s Agriculture Minister, Eric Opoku, has launched an 18.8 million dollar project funded by a grant from the African Development Bank to strengthen the rice sector. More than 20,000 smallholder farmers in seven districts in northern Ghana are expected to benefit, according to the Ghanaian Times.
Ghana’s Minister of Food and Agriculture, Eric Opoku, launched an 18.8 million dollar project on Monday to develop rice production and the crop’s value chain in Ghana. Known as the Regional West African Resilient Rice Value Chain Project, the programme is expected to benefit more than 20,000 smallholder farmers in seven districts across four regions in the north of the country, according to the Ghanaian Times.
Funded by a grant from the African Development Bank, the project aims in particular to increase domestic rice supply and reduce Ghana’s dependence on imports. It will also address the low adoption of improved technologies, shortcomings in production systems and the fragmentation of farming activities.
The districts concerned are Mamprugu-Moagduri in the North East Region, Tamale Metropolitan, Mion and Savelugu in the Northern Region, Nandom and Wa in the Upper West Region, and West Gonja in the Savannah Region. The project therefore covers several of northern Ghana’s main rice-growing areas.
