Eighty bags of rice destroyed at Akuse

Ms Elizabeth Odei, Chief Executive Officer of Lizzy Premium Ghana long grain perfume rice, has called on Mr Bryan Acheampong, the Minister of Agriculture, to support rice farmers at Akuse in the Eastern Region by purchasing electric or mechanical dryers for them. She made the call after 80 bags of her rice were destroyed due to a lack of drying floors and consistent rains. 'There isn't a single electrical or mechanical dryer from Akuse to Asutuare, so when we rely on the sun, and due to recent rains, I couldn't get enough sun to dry, so the rice turned yellow rather than white,' she said. She added that one bag costs 550 cedis, implying that around GHS44,000 has been wasted. 'The rice farming is tiresome, and difficult, and it is unfortunate that a young, promising woman like me must suffer these losses,' she said. She pointed out that because the rice has become yellowish, it is difficult to sell, even though it has no health concerns. Ms Odei appealed to the government to purchase an electric or mechanical dryer to help them overcome the difficulties they confront throughout the drying process.She said: 'All rice farmers are prepared to rent dryers to dry their harvested rice; otherwise, our harvested rice would continue to go bad.'Mr. Kwabena Glanteh, Lower Manya Krobo Municipal Agriculture Director of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, told the Ghana News Agency that farmers are in dire need of mechanical dryers to solve the drying problems.He stated that there are not enough drying floors to ensure smooth and stable rice drying in the area. Theophelous Nartey, an aggregator and rice farmer, stated that the government should forbid the importation of foreign rice and instead utilize the proceeds to enable domestic farmers to fulfil national and international standards. 'We were informed that mechanical dryers cost $400,000, and the government will make money if it can purchase and rent at least ten of these dryers for the rice farmers in Akuse and Asutuare. It will also enable us to pr oduce an abundance of rice,' he said. He said local rice purchasers have decreased because the rice that has been harvested and bagged is still sitting in the warehouse with no one coming to buy it because the government continues to allow foreign rice importation into the country.'Our indigenous rice is more nutritious and tastes better than the foreign ones,' he said.Source: Ghana News Agency