By Serwaah Dorothy:
Mr. Ntore Nkansah, chairman for the Ghana Rice Advocacy Council has emphasized on how the government of Ghana can help the value chain of rice to better up their work doing.
Mr. Nkansah who was speaking on Rite FM’s Akuafo Se Sen on Tuesday noted that previously, there were no standards set for rice production. He was however now relieved that that situation is no longer the case in the face of new standards set for the production of rice, something that has been made possible through the advocacy of the Ghana Rice Advocacy Council.
Mr. Ntore pointed out that rice farmers were not happy about constant complaints in the past about the poor quality of the locally produced rice from the consuming public. This according to him was due to the fact that there were no regulations surrounding the movement of the rice to the markets to be sold to the public.
According to him, this is no longer the case as their advocacy has come to prevent people who just brought rice to the market without the knowledge of the authorities, from doing so. ‘Before one can process rice to the market, it now has to meet our standards,’ he explained.
The advocacy, Mr. Ntore added has bridged the gap between the locally manufactured rice and its foreign counterparts in terms of quality. The chairman who claimed that rice has now taken the position of gari and maize among others as the most popular food now added that made in Ghana rice is not only consumed locally as its exported to neighbouring countries such as Togo, Mali, Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria.
Source: ritefmonline.org
