Rice farmers in the Upper East Region are despondent. They have described the rice farming business as one with a bleak future. The farmers say despite their huge investments, they are finding it difficult to break even. This is because paddy rice harvested from the fields continue to sit in warehouses. The farmers explained that they are unable to sell the produce because of the absence of demand.
Speaking on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East, the Secretary of the Commercial Rice Farmers Association, Daniel Atulik said there have been exponential increases in the prices of inputs like seeds, fertilizers and other farm machinery. These they say, have had a direct effect on how much they sell the final products for.
“The rains haven’t been fair to us, then we also had issues with fertilizers. We can also look at how seed prices jumped from ghc80 to ghc200 for the 40kg bag. We finished now, the market is nothing to write home about,” he explained.
Explaining the rise in prices of rice seeds, Mr. Atulik claimed that “the government tried to remove the subsidies and so the communique that came out [from the government] they pegged the 40kg bag, under PFJ, at ghc200. Everything dumped astronomically”.
On the availability of market, the Secretary to the Commercial Rice Farmers in the Builsa South District said “I have some of my people carrying their rice to Kumasi to mill and sell. They all came back leaving the rice there because there is no market. You can not also dash it out looking at the very high cost incurred in producing this rice. All the rice is in stock. We are just keeping it hoping that government will help us”.
Related Stories:
- UE: 50kg bag of fertilizer selling between ghc 360 & 400 – Farmers cry for reduction
- UE: There’s no market for local rice: PFAG on influx of foreign products
- UE: MoFA aware of fertilizer price hikes
- UE: Concerns of rice farmers will be addressed – MoFA
“As we speak now, fertilizer is ghc350 and above in Navrongo. This year, we are hearing that it is going to be ghc400 and above. Last year, it was ghc107 for the NPK. Last two years, it was ghc80. The previous year, it was ghc68. If you look at the rate by which it is going up, it is like, it is worrying,” he lamented.
He said aside from the cost, there is also a challenge with regard to availability. Mr. Atulik called for an intensification of the ‘Eat Ghana Rice’ campaign.
A1radioonline.com|101.1 MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
