Director of Communications for the Bawumia Campaign, Dennis Miracles Aboagye, has called on the government to adopt a new approach to addressing the ongoing local rice glut by funding private rice aggregators in the same way it supports gold buyers.
Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile on Saturday, November 8, Mr Aboagye argued that the government should not be the one directly buying and storing rice, but rather, it should empower private players to purchase and manage excess produce on behalf of the state.
“Who says government is the one supposed to go and buy and hold? When we wanted to buy gold, what did we do? We carried money and gave it to private people to go and buy the gold and bring it to us.”
He said the same model could be used in the agriculture sector to ensure that rice farmers have a guaranteed market for their produce.
“If you think that the rice sector is very important, then do the same thing. Give money to private people to go and buy the rice, aggregate it, keep it somewhere, and then, as and when schools, hospitals, and prisons need them, they can go and buy to cook. That guarantees the farmer a certain price and a certain buyer.”
According to Mr Aboagye, the government is already one of the biggest consumers of rice through its feeding programmes in schools, hospitals, training colleges, and prisons.
He therefore questioned why the state does not have a policy compelling all such institutions to consume only locally produced rice.
“Why is it that the government doesn’t have a policy that makes it mandatory for every secondary school, hospital, and prison to consume only locally produced rice? These are places where the government is already buying the rice. If they all buy local, the farmers’ produce will not go to waste.”
“Go to the buffer stock warehouses, you’ll see plenty of imported rice. That is something the government could have bought from our local farmers instead.”
Mr Aboagye said the state must be prepared to absorb the cost of supporting local producers, especially when pursuing policies to stabilise the currency.
“If you have a policy of keeping your currency at a certain level and you use artificial injections, you must be mindful of the cost,” he said.
“That cost is to cushion your local producers. Even if it means buying their goods at a slightly higher price, that’s your cost of the decision.”
He advised the government to invest more in real sectors such as agriculture rather than relying on short-term economic fixes.
“You can’t just pump dollars into the system to manage your currency, invest in the real sectors, support the rice industry, and give them time to build capacity. When local producers can compete with importers, it’ll naturally reduce demand for foreign rice and ease pressure on the cedi.”
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