Government as part of measures to promote the production and consumption of made-in-Ghana rice has procured and dispatched some solar-powered rice mills to some farming communities across the country.
The farming communities which have been described as strategic rice farming areas include New Edubiase and Ejura in the Ashanti Region, Yamoransa in the Central Region and Fumbisi in the Upper East Region.
BestNewsGH.com has gathered from the Technical Adviser at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Emmanuel Krobea-Asante that the rice mills are currently being installed in predominantly rice producing communities.
The mills, BestNewsGH.com is informed, comes in handy, following an appeal by farmers, particularly those in the Fumbisi valley area late last year to government to purchase their rice for the School Feeding Programme as a measure to curtail losses.
Till date, there is no rice milling facility in the Upper East Region and the farmers are convinced that with the many more youth in the region showing interest in rice farming, it is imperative to help them do so on a commercial scale, hence the need for the rice mills.
Government, according to Mr. Krobea-Asante has entered into negotiation with two companies aimed at importing rice milling machines into the country to support farmers.
He said “We expect about 500 additional milling machines from China and Brazil to increase the milling capacity by the next harvesting season.”
“We hope that between now and September all these measures will be in place to make the farmers comfortable ” he added.
Source: BestNewsGH.com
