Half a million dollar boost for Aveyime Rice Farm (Thursday, Feb. 7, 2013, page 23)
Prairie Volta Limited (PVL), owners of the Aveyime rice farms, is to benefit from a $ 500,000 capacity-building project by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations.
The project, ‘Technology Transfer and Capacity Development for Rice in Ghana’ will be funded by the FAO through the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.
The FAO Regional Director for Africa, Ms Maria Helena Semedo, announced the package during a tour of the farm with officials of the Ministry of Agriculture, United Nations Systems in Ghana, the Japanese Embassy, UT Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB).
The tour was to help the officials get first hand information on the operations of the farm, and explore possible avenues of cooperation.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic on the farms, Ms Semedo said the FAO would work out details of the programme and extend it to other staple food crops.
To further increase its foothold as the biggest commercial rice farm in Ghana, the company has acquired 6,000 hectares of land at Mafi-Dove in the Volta Region.
With 7,200 hectares of rice harvested and bagged last year, PVL is gearing up to increase its production to some 20,000 tonnes this year with the acquisition of 6,000 hectare-land at Ke near Mafi-Dove in the Volta Region.
That, Ms Semedo said, was impressive. “I am really impressed. They are very well organised. The quality of the rice is very good, the yield is international norms. The yield is five to six tonnes per hectare. It is the same thing you can find in India or China.”
“Now we have to work hard on how to bring in the small holder farmer to what is happening in the rice industry, bring in technology and build capacity to improve the value chain—from the production to the market,” she added.
“Ghana has the potential to produce for its neighbouring countries. This is what we can work with the government of Ghana not only in terms of rice production but also other food crops because we have land, we have water. The most important ingredient are available we can explore them giving value to the resources available in Ghana,” she said.
The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr Clement Kofi Humado, was full of praise for the project saying “this obviously is a project with a lot of potential.”
A remnant of the Quality grain project, the farm which started four years ago is struggling with finances to expand.
However, Mr Humado said those constraints should be a thing of the past.
“We as a government or ministry need to assist them to rise on their feet very fast. Their potential to produce a lot of rice is high,” he told the Daily Graphic.
Mr Humado said, “The amount of irrigated land they have uncultivated is very huge. They have a few problems with cash flow. When I get to the office, I will ask for proposals, have experts look at it and we’ll see what role the government is in assisting them to get on full stream. We are very committed because if we get them operating fully, they will be able to produce enough to reduce the huge import we are currently undertaking.”
While the country consumes some 700,000 metric tonnes of rice every year, it has the capacity to produce only half of that. The country spends more than $ 800 million on rice import bill annually.
“This and other schemes will be looked at. They have the capacity, but operating on a low scale. It is one of my priorities to tackle, to ensure that we benefit fully from their output,” the minister said, adding that under his tenure, the rice and poultry industries would receive a lot more attention.
He said the Accra Plains Irrigation Scheme would also begin this year and would be completed in two years but added that the land tenure problem had to be sorted out first.
Mr John Vandyke-Mensah, the Managing Partner of the company was optimistic that 2013 would see improved production in spite of the financial constraints.
He said the newly acquired lands would ensure that the company went beyond increasing its output to creating jobs for more people.
Mr Vandyke-Mensah, however, lamented the inadequate skilled persons in the country who could operate all farm machinery.
“Currently, you can’t have anybody who can operate the combine harvester and other equipment,” he added.
The project, ‘Technology Transfer and Capacity Development for Rice in Ghana’ will be funded by the FAO through the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.
The FAO Regional Director for Africa, Ms Maria Helena Semedo, announced the package during a tour of the farm with officials of the Ministry of Agriculture, United Nations Systems in Ghana, the Japanese Embassy, UT Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB).
The tour was to help the officials get first hand information on the operations of the farm, and explore possible avenues of cooperation.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic on the farms, Ms Semedo said the FAO would work out details of the programme and extend it to other staple food crops.
To further increase its foothold as the biggest commercial rice farm in Ghana, the company has acquired 6,000 hectares of land at Mafi-Dove in the Volta Region.
With 7,200 hectares of rice harvested and bagged last year, PVL is gearing up to increase its production to some 20,000 tonnes this year with the acquisition of 6,000 hectare-land at Ke near Mafi-Dove in the Volta Region.
That, Ms Semedo said, was impressive. “I am really impressed. They are very well organised. The quality of the rice is very good, the yield is international norms. The yield is five to six tonnes per hectare. It is the same thing you can find in India or China.”
“Now we have to work hard on how to bring in the small holder farmer to what is happening in the rice industry, bring in technology and build capacity to improve the value chain—from the production to the market,” she added.
“Ghana has the potential to produce for its neighbouring countries. This is what we can work with the government of Ghana not only in terms of rice production but also other food crops because we have land, we have water. The most important ingredient are available we can explore them giving value to the resources available in Ghana,” she said.
The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr Clement Kofi Humado, was full of praise for the project saying “this obviously is a project with a lot of potential.”
A remnant of the Quality grain project, the farm which started four years ago is struggling with finances to expand.
However, Mr Humado said those constraints should be a thing of the past.
“We as a government or ministry need to assist them to rise on their feet very fast. Their potential to produce a lot of rice is high,” he told the Daily Graphic.
Mr Humado said, “The amount of irrigated land they have uncultivated is very huge. They have a few problems with cash flow. When I get to the office, I will ask for proposals, have experts look at it and we’ll see what role the government is in assisting them to get on full stream. We are very committed because if we get them operating fully, they will be able to produce enough to reduce the huge import we are currently undertaking.”
While the country consumes some 700,000 metric tonnes of rice every year, it has the capacity to produce only half of that. The country spends more than $ 800 million on rice import bill annually.
“This and other schemes will be looked at. They have the capacity, but operating on a low scale. It is one of my priorities to tackle, to ensure that we benefit fully from their output,” the minister said, adding that under his tenure, the rice and poultry industries would receive a lot more attention.
He said the Accra Plains Irrigation Scheme would also begin this year and would be completed in two years but added that the land tenure problem had to be sorted out first.
Mr John Vandyke-Mensah, the Managing Partner of the company was optimistic that 2013 would see improved production in spite of the financial constraints.
He said the newly acquired lands would ensure that the company went beyond increasing its output to creating jobs for more people.
Mr Vandyke-Mensah, however, lamented the inadequate skilled persons in the country who could operate all farm machinery.
“Currently, you can’t have anybody who can operate the combine harvester and other equipment,” he added.
Comments
Post a Comment