Ghana’s Ministry of Food and Agriculture says it is looking to cut down imports of rice by 50 per cent as well as ending tomato imports this year. Deputy Minister for the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, George Oduro said the government is working to cut the levels of food import significantly: “This year alone, our target it to stop the importation of rice by 50 per cent. Then for tomatoes too, we hope to end it importation completely so that we produce enough even for export because we have the capacity to do so.”
According to him, efforts to expand irrigation projects, the introduction of mechanization are among the efforts to help boost production.
According to the Israeli Ambassador to Ghana Shani Cooper, his government will continue to invest in Ghana’s Agric sector: “We have so many investments in Ghana worth hundreds of millions of dollars but we believe aid comes with commerce so we also doing a lot n capacity building for farmers. We are also working to attract more investors from Israel to Ghana in the agriculture sector to boost commerce between the two states” Ms Cooper said.
According to myjoyonline.com¸ records from the Ministry shows that in 2017, Ghana imported some 656.232 tons of rice worth $331.2 million. In the same period, some 75,000 tons of tomatoes was also imported to meet domestic demand.