ARTICLE:
Ghana has secured an $18.8 million grant from the African Development Bank (AfDB) to boost local rice production and achieve self-sufficiency by 2028.
The grant is being implemented through the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) under the Regional West Africa Resilient Rice Value Chains Development Project (REWARD).
Minister for Food and Agriculture, Mr. Eric Opoku, announced this at a press briefing in Accra on October 7.
He said Ghana’s milled rice production increased from 650,000 tonnes in 2024 to 960,000 tonnes in 2025, but local production still meets only 56% of national demand. The country spends between $320 million and $500 million annually on rice imports.
Under the REWARD project, government will develop 3,200 hectares of land for rice in the Northern Savannah Ecological Zone, support seed centres with cleaning equipment, and increase yields from 3.5 to 4.5 tonnes per hectare.
The project will also supply farm machinery including rice transplanters, seed drills, rotary tillers, mini combine harvesters and boom sprayers.
In addition, 10 strategically located rice processing centres will be equipped, hermetic storage facilities provided to cut post-harvest losses, and over 20,000 smallholder farmers linked to markets.
Beneficiary districts include Tamale Metro, Mion, Savelugu, East Mamprusi, West Gonja, Bole, Wa Municipal, Sissala East and Nandom.
“REWARD is Feed Ghana in Action for Rice,” Mr. Opoku said, adding that Ghana targets 3.31 million metric tonnes of paddy by 2028 to end import dependence.
Source: GNA / Daily Agric News / Graphic Online via Access Agric –
Tags:
AfDB Grant, Rice Value Chain, REWARD Project, Eric Opoku, MoFA, Rice Self-Sufficiency, Feed Ghana
