Key players in Ghana’s rice value chain have abandoned plans to boycott this year’s National Farmers’ Day celebrations after a conciliatory meeting with the Minister of Food and Agriculture and the leadership of the National Buffer Stock Company.
The decision marks an easing of tensions between the rice industry and the government, following weeks of frustration over market bottlenecks, unsold paddy stock and policy coordination failures.
The meeting in Accra brought together the Rice Millers Association of Ghana, the Competitive African Rice Platform, rice farmer groups from major producing regions and allied organisations. They had previously warned they would withdraw from the Farmers’ Day celebration to protest what they described as persistent neglect of the challenges facing the industry.
After the talks, industry leaders said they were satisfied with the government’s immediate commitments and would resume full participation in the celebrations. They described the engagement as constructive and said it opened the door to a more coordinated approach to stabilising the rice industry, making it viable and recognising its place in national economic growth.
Central to the discussions was a situational assessment presented by the industry delegation. They highlighted the congestion of unsold paddy in the northern belt, a problem they warned could extend to the south as harvesting peaks.
They also raised concerns about gaps in policy implementation, weak coordination across agencies, unreliable data for planning and the slow adoption of research-driven farming methods.
The Minister for Food and Agriculture, Eric Opoku, responded by announcing two committees intended to tackle both the short-term market pressures and the long-term structural weaknesses in the value chain.
A Rice Purchase Committee will oversee the Buffer Stock Company’s buying programme and ensure that only Ghana-produced rice is procured, a measure industry leaders say is essential to decongesting warehouses and protecting farmers from crippling losses.
A Policy and Strategy Committee will bring together government officials, millers, farmers and researchers to design a more coherent framework for the long-term quest for rice independence.
The move, according to Mr. Opoku, is aligned with the government’s Feed Ghana Programme, launched this year as a national effort to modernise agriculture and reduce dependence on food imports. The programme aims to expand irrigation, support mechanisation, improve seed and fertiliser distribution and strengthen market linkages for staple crops, especially rice.
Ghana has long struggled to meet local demand for rice. Consumption has grown sharply in the past two decades, particularly in urban areas, while domestic production has expanded unevenly. Although paddy output rose significantly between 2008 and 2020, Ghana still relies on imports for roughly half of its annual rice needs.
Analysts point to structural constraints (including limited processing capacity, high post-harvest losses and inconsistent policy direction) as reasons for the country’s slow progress toward self-sufficiency. Recent studies have warned that Ghana’s rice import bill continues to climb, exposing the country to global price volatility and eroding foreign exchange reserves.
Sector advocates say the renewed government-industry partnership offers a chance to reverse that trend, provided the new committees deliver practical results quickly. Officials at the meeting described the dialogue as a turning point.
The Minister said the new partnership would strengthen national food security and give rice farmers the support they need.
Industry leaders echoed that sentiment, expressing optimism that consistent engagement could help Ghana move closer to its long-standing goal of rice independence.
Stakeholders say their focus will now shift to ensuring that the decisions taken at the meeting translate into real action on the ground. They argue that the credibility of the reforms (and the confidence of farmers) will depend on how swiftly the government begins purchasing local rice, how effectively the sector’s bottlenecks are cleared and whether the new policy framework addresses the underlying issues that have held the industry back for years.
Officials at the meeting included, Senyo Hosi (representing the Rice Millers Association of Ghana), Yaw Adu-Poku (from Competitive African Rice Platform) and Michael Darko (President of the Rice Millers Association of Ghana).
