The current campaign for the consumption of locally manufactured rice must be vigorously sustained if Ghanaians will accept to consume local rice.
Although the campaign may have been coming a little too late because of the volumes of imported rice in this country, it is commendable that the campaign has started and already catching fire.
Many individuals and organisations are said to have joined the campaign to encourage as many Ghanaians as possible to consume local rice instead of imported rice.
The Ghanaian Times has for a long time been advocating for the consumption of local rice because of the huge amount of foreign exchange that is used to import the commodity.
Again, our desire to encourage Ghanaians to patronise the local product is to support local rice farmers who have been suffering due to the low patronage of their rice.
We are happy therefore, that, many Ghanaians have joined the campaign and we are hopeful that in the near future many would begin to consume the local stuff.
The current campaign is important because official figures indicate that Ghana spends over one billion dollars annually to import rice into the country.
This amount, which could be saved for other domestic needs, was now being used to import rice which is cultivated here in Ghana.
It is unacceptable that rice could be cultivated in many parts of the country and yet we refuse to consume it and rather channel our meagre foreign exchange resources to import rice.
For us, it is illogical for the country to continue to encourage farmers to cultivate rice which would not be consumed and made to go waste.
It is time for all of us to change our attitude toward local food products and consume what we grow in order to support not only the farmers but also grow the agricultural sector.
We are at a very critical point where we must stop the pretense and be serious about food production to feed the nation.
There can be no excuse for lack of food in Ghana when we have refused to consume food produced locally and support farmers to increase production.
We urge the government and indeed all Ghanaians to support the campaign by consuming local rice during the Christmas festivities as well as the New Year where a lot of rice would be cooked in homes.
If we are able to consume a lot of the local rice during this periods and reduce the intake of the imported rice, we would be on our way to reducing the foreign exchange used in rice importation.
Let’s continue the campaign until all Ghanaians accept to eat what we grow, and grow what we eat.
