Ghana’s Rice Glut Deepens as Farmers Battle to Sell Last Year’s Unsold Stock

Ghana’s rice farmers are facing a deepening crisis as large quantities of last year’s harvest remain unsold while a new harvest season is already underway.

According to Dr. Ama Aning Oppong-Duah, Vice Chair of the Competitive Africa Rice Platform, the situation has left many farmers stranded with piles of rice that local buyers have ignored in favour of cheaper imported varieties.

“We still have unsold rice from last year, and more is coming in,” Dr. Oppong-Duah revealed on JoyNews’ PM Express on Wednesday.

She explained that the challenge began last year when farmers invested heavily in production at a time when the dollar was high. “They purchased fertiliser, seed, and other inputs at a certain rate. But after harvesting, the cedi started appreciating, which made imported rice cheaper,” she said.

The sudden appreciation of the local currency caused a surge in rice imports, as traders and consumers turned to foreign rice that became more affordable on the market. “Farmers had produced at a certain cost, and the foreign rice became cheaper. So people brought in cheap foreign rice,” she added.

Compounding the problem, Dr. Oppong-Duah said, was the transition at the National Buffer Stock Company, which disrupted the agency’s purchase and storage operations. “They weren’t buying as they were supposed to. So there was quite a bit of a murky situation at the time,” she noted.

As a result, many farmers have been left with rice that no one is buying, forcing them to watch their produce deteriorate in storage.

Despite these setbacks, Dr. Oppong-Duah said most farmers went ahead to plant again this year after receiving inputs under a new government directive, but the market situation has not improved.

“We are now in the harvesting season,” she said. “And now there’s rice sitting from last year because we haven’t been able to sell, and there’s more rice coming in.”

The ongoing glut poses a major threat to Ghana’s goal of achieving rice self-sufficiency, as local producers continue to struggle against the dominance of cheaper imports and policy inconsistencies that undermine their competitiveness.