FARMERS TO BE ASSISTED TO PRODUCE RICE IN WESTERN REGIONS (PAGE 20)

RICE is rapidly becoming a staple food in the country.
This food is consumed in every household, as well as educational institutions with boarding or hostel facilities.
As a result of its high patronage, the country is spending much hard earned foreign currency to import rice to satisfy the domestic requirement.
The government has, therefore, thought it wise to help improve rice production in the country by soliciting assistance in the form of loan from the African Development Bank to help address some of the challenges confronting rice farmers.
This is the genesis of the Inland Valleys Rice Development Project started in 2004.
The project is being implemented in five regions in the country, namely Western, Central, Eastern , Ashanti and Brong-Ahafo.
A total of 17 districts have been selected from the five regions with eight of them being in the Western Region.
The eight districts in the Western Region are the former Shama Ahanta East Metropolitan Area (now the project is located in the newly created Shama District), the Mpohor Wassa East District, Nzema East Municipality, Wassa West District, now Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipality, Wassa Amenfi West District, Aowin Suaman District, Sefwi Wiawso District and Bia District.
The main aims of the project are to contribute towards food security and to reduce rice imports by the country with specific objectives of increasing incomes of small holder rice producers, rice traders and rice processors.
The project has five main components, which are land management, credit for crop development, capacity building, adaptive research and surveys, as well as co-ordination.
At the end of the project, 4,500 hectares of valley sites should have been surveyed, designed and developed.
The development includes land clearing, levelling, terracing and construction of water control structures, with 200 kilometres of feeder road spots improved and 80 kilometres of access tracks upgraded.
The project is also giving support by way of credit to rice producers/farmers, millers and processors. The support for the farmers is in the form of improved seeds, fertilisers and agro-chemicals, while the traders are benefiting from inventory credit, which means they are given loans to purchase paddy from the farmers for storage for some period before they dispose of the commodity.
The project is also to help construct storage structures, drying floors and provision of tarpaulins, rice threshers, power tillers, mini rice reapers and mini rice mills for stakeholders.
The activities being undertaken under its capacity building programme include the formation and training of farmers, traders and miller groups.
The project, in collaboration with the Crop Research Institute, is carrying out adaptive research trials in various project sites to come out with a rice variety which is suitable for each site.
Other activities being carried out under the adaptive research and surveys are soil improvements or nutrient management, rice-based cropping systems or integrated crop and pest management, baseline survey and ethno-botanical survey.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic in Takoradi, the Western Regional Officer of the Inland Valleys Rice Development Project, Mr Kofi Ayiah, said the project was being co-ordinated by a National Steering Committee, while at each regional level, it had a regional technical committee.
He said the project had other collaborators such as the Ministry of Health and the Department of Feeder Roads.
Mr Ayiah explained that before the project started in 2004, the area developed by rice farmers for rice cultivation in the valleys in the region was about 50 hectares covering three sites at Kobina Anokrom and Antseambua-Badukrom in the Shama District and Dompim Number One in the Mpohor Wassa East District.
He said the project was to develop a total land area of 1,400 hectares in the Western Region.
He, however, stated that the farmers had on their own been able to develop 263.4 hectares in all the nine sites in the eight districts, adding that last year, the farmers were able to crop 243.8 hectares.
Mr Ayiah said as of 2008, the project had been able to give 52 farmer groups support in the form of seed, fertilisers, agro-chemicals and loans totalling GH¢119,782.92.
He added that four marketing groups had benefited from a loan of GH¢53,140 while one processor had been provided with one mini-rice mill.
The regional officer said the farmers had received training in modern technology applied to rice production.
He said the Ministry of Health had also trained communities in the project catchment areas in the prevention of HIV/AIDS, malaria and water-borne diseases.
Mr Ayiah said the major challenge confronting the project in the Western Region was the delay in land development, unreliable rainfall and high cost of agricultural inputs.
“Unavailability of good processing facilities, such as rice mills and graders in most of the project sites in the region and the delay in the repayment of loans by some of the farmers to the banks are two of the problems hindering the progress of the project,” he said.