Mr. Abraham Dwuma Odoom, Ex Deputy Minister of Agriculture, has warned the government of Ghana against entertaining any foreign intervention in the country’s rice industry, noting that the Ghana-Thai rice project could be another ‘Aveyime’ in the making.
Mr Abraham Dwuma Odoom, thus, asked the government to learn from the now-dormant and litigation-riddled Aveyime rice project involving one Ms Cotton, an American investor. Mr Dwuma Odoom noted that similar past events should be a good enough warning.
“We had the experience of one Madam Cotton coming to help Ghana to produce rice; you remember that one– the Aveyime [Rice Project]? Now, it has become a white elephant [that] cannot even be utilised because it is bedeviled with legal issues.
“That is one experience Ghana must learn [from] if we are stretching our hand for any foreign support. My worry [is that] Thailand has been denied of the importation of rice from Nigeria and Ghana. Therefore, anything can be on their mind, as they come to work with us. When you are dealing with foreign countries, you have to be very careful, especially when they are competitors. You have to be very strategic, if not, they can do anything to you.”
Mr Dwuma Odoom
Mr Dwuma Odoom added citing an instance that “if the Thai come and over the period, start something [that eventually] fails to work, [we] will definitely have to go back to them to import rice”, he said.
Similar Incident with the Cocoa Products Company
Mr Odoom recalled how a similar incident with the Cocoa Products Company in the past was attacked by foreign interests and subsequently collapsed. He is, therefore, advising the government and decision-makers noting that the Central Region alone can produce enough rice to feed the whole country.
Mr Odoom asserted. “We have to be very sceptical about foreign interventions, especially if we have the benefit of local and homegrown solutions we think will inure to our benefit,” he cautioned.
Mr Odoom’s warning came days after President Nana Akufo-Addo received a delegation of investors from Thailand, led by the Executive Chairman of the Jospong Group of Companies (JGC), Dr Joseph Siaw Agyepong, and the Honorary Consul of Ghana in Thailand, Dr Sicha Singsomboon, on Friday, 30th December, 2022, at the Jubilee House, the seat of government.
The delegation comprised some 20 investors, who were in Ghana to cement a Ghana-Thailand Rice deal being spearheaded by JGC, and to also explore other possibilities of investing in Ghana’s agriculture sector.
During the meeting, President Akufo-Addo said, “Countries like yours [Thailand] and others have done it, and if you have done it, others can also follow and emulate your example. And I am excited by the idea of getting into bed with people who are known to have succeeded”.
When the Thai delegation paid a courtesy call on Agriculture Minister Owusu Afriyie Akoto, he indicated that Ghana can boast of about 40,000 hectares of land readily available to support large-scale rice production, hence encouraged the Thai investors to take advantage of it and invest in the sector. In addition, he assured the delegation of the government of Ghana’s support for investors in the rice industry. “Our rice production is seasonal, and, therefore, we want action targeted at planting rice in April, May June”, assuring that the government will make sure that land is made available to the investors.
The delegation visited the former Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen, who also assured them of the government’s full commitment toward ensuring the successful implementation of the Ghana-Thailand rice project. “Government is fully on board, in terms of providing the enabling environment and policy framework for this project,” he said.
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