The President of the African Rice Advocacy Platform (ARAP), Julius Wambura, has described as shameful the importation of $4 billion worth of rice into the African continent.
According to him, Africa is supporting other Asian economies with over $4 billion through the importation of rice whiles the industry in Africa needs boost.
Speaking at the ARAP learning event supported by the John Agyekum Kufuor Foundation on Tuesday, 9 October 2018, Mr Wambura charged African farmers to take advantage of the large available market for the commodity.
He called on other African countries who are not part of the platform to join the group to ensure that Africans make strides in promoting rice production.
Meanwhile, the CEO of the John Agyekum Kufuor Foundation, Professor Baffour Agyemang Duah, believes Ghana has not been able to take advantage of the African Rice Advocacy Platform which was formed two years ago under the Competitive African Rice Initiative (CARI) with John Agyekum Kufuor Foundation as a partner.
The project aims to substantially increase the income of local rice farmers in the selected countries through their integration into competitive and sustainable business models.
According to Professor Duah, Nigeria was able to take advantage of the platform to improve their production such that Nigeria at the moment has ceased the importation of rice whilst Ghana still imports rice worth GHS1.2 billion.
He emphasised the need for Ghanaian farmers to also change their strategies in order to benefit from the rice industry.
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