Ghana moves to stop rice, poultry imports weeks after Nigeria closes borders

The Republic of Ghana has put plans in place to ban the importation of rice and poultry in three years’ time. This information was made public by the Minister of Agriculture for the West African nation, Dr Owusu Afriyie-Akoto.

This is coming weeks after Ghana begged Nigeria to open its borders, adding that it was heavily affected by Nigeria’s decision to close its borders.

According to Dr Afriyie-Akoto, Ghana wants to divert its attention into boosting local production and shun heavy reliance on rice and poultry importation, hence the three years’ timeline.

It was pointed out that 82% of the bulk of Ghana’s imports is for rice alone. This accounts for over $1 billion, a calculation that translates into almost 2% of Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), according to Ghana Deputy Trades Minister, Robert Ahomka Lindsay.

Ghana wants to combat the importation struggle through a flagship programme known as Planting for Food and Jobs in order to boost local capacity to meet high demand as well as simulate trade between merchants and local farmers.

Afriyie-Akoto said the Planting for Foods and Jobs initiative could be operational in three years and enough to combat rice and poultry importation during that same period. He was confident his ideas would work because the law backs his decisions and he noted that the initiative did not violate World Trade Organization (WTO) rules neither was it overambitious.

(Naira Metrics)