Ghana spent an estimated total of GH6.874 billion on the importation of rice between 2017 to 2020.
Also, food products including fish (GH₵3.993 billion), chicken (GH₵1.881 billion), meat (GH₵487 million), vegetables (GH₵281million), and poultry (GH₵184 million) were imported within that same period.
This was disclosed by Trade Minister Allan Kyeremanten, when he appeared before Parliament to respond to a question by Tamale Central MP Murtala Muhammed Ibrahim, on how much the state spent on the importation of rice and other foodstuffs into the country over the past four years.
The sector minister’s data is coming at a time the government has announced plans of banning the importation of rice by 2022 to boost local rice production.
On October 22, 2019, the Deputy Food and Agriculture Minister, Kennedy Nyarko Osei, revealed that Ghana is working around the clock to cease the importation of rice in the country by the end of 2022 based on the recent projections.
“The two crops we are focusing on are rice and soya; soya because of the poultry industry and rice because of import substitution,” he revealed in an earlier interview.
Responding to a question on whether the government has lifted the ban on small rice importers, Mr. Kyeremanten said rice was a staple food in Ghana and as such one had to maintain a delicate balance between the quantity of rice produced locally and what was imported to ensure that there were no serious shortages.
Mr. Kyeremanten stressed that the government has not lifted the ban imposed on the small rice importers but the Ministry has a management policy to ensure that there were no shortages in the system.
He explained that the Ministry would review its position on rice imports when there was significant local rice production in the country.