Rice farmers in the Northern region have lamented their inability to get buyers for their rice and thus urged government to reconsider the suspension of the reversal of the benchmark value policy.
According to the farmers, thousands of bags of rice harvested during the last farming season in the region have remained in the warehouses and homes as farmers struggle to find buyers.
Some of the farmers indicated that the major rice off-takers in the region stopped buying their rice because the prices of imported rice has become lower due to the benchmark value discount.
Alhaji Salifu Abdul Salam, Chairman of the Mechanised Agric Service Providers Association also lamented about the farmers’ current predicament, noting that “the situation would throw rice farmers out of business.”
“Members of the Association and I have over 20,000 bags of rice. Avnash Industries, which is the major off-taker in the region, is not buying rice. When you ask them, they will tell you they will make a loss because of the benchmark value discount on imported rice.”
Alhaji Salifu Abdul Salam
Alhaji Salifu recounted the challenges the farmers encounter as a result of the benchmark value discount. He reiterated that if the government does not do anything about it, they may not be able to farm.
“We already face a lot of challenges, including the high cost of production, which has tripled. We are trying to break even but we cannot. If something is not done about the benchmark value discount, it will be difficult for us to farm this year.”
Alhaji Salifu Abdul Salam
Some Buyers Taking Advantage
Mr Zakaria Yahuza, a rice farmer from Dalun in the Kumbungu District, stated that people are trying to take advantage of the situation to buy it at a lesser price.
“I have 300 bags of rice in the house. I cannot get buyers. The right price per 85kg bag is GHc300 but some buyers want to pay GHc140.00. I will lose a lot if I sell it at this price.
“We are forced sometimes to sell some because you have to settle some financial challenges. The government must do something about the benchmark value discount now to save us.”
Mr Zakaria Yahuza
The press conference was jointly organised by the Rice Millers Association of Ghana and the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG) on the suspension of the implementation of the reversal of the benchmark value discount policy and its impact on jobs, livelihoods and progress of the rice sector in the country.
It can be recalled that the government in 2019, announced the benchmark value discount on some imported goods and products, leading to a reduction and or stabilisation in the prices of imported products.
However, during the presentation of the 2022 budget, the government announced the withdrawal of the benchmark value discount on certain products, including rice.
On the other hand, some interest groups also opposed the move, stating it would lead to increased prices in the market. Their stiff opposition yielded results as the government suspended the implementation of the reversal of the benchmark value discount.
Dr Charles Nyaaba, Head of Programmes and Advocacy at PFAG, noted that “The benchmark value discount has led to the flooding of our markets with cheap imported rice.”
Dr. Nyaaba, therefore, called on the government to withdraw the benchmark value discount on particularly agricultural produce that the country has sufficient capacity to produce, especially rice, to save the thousands of jobs that remained under threat of collapse in the rice sector.
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