John Dumelo pushes for local rice to be made affordable

Mr Dumelo[/caption] Actor-cum-politician, John Dumelo, has raised concern about the high cost of locally produced rice, warning the current drive and campaign for consumption of local rice will soon run out if the price is not brought down.  Non availability of buyers for huge pile of metric tonnes of rice from farms in the northern part of Ghana triggered advocacy campaign on social media after media reports of the situation surfaced a week ago. For over a week, Ghanaians have been pushing for consumption of locally produced rice with some social media influencers offering their platforms for the marketing of local rice free of charge. But the actor, who is seeking to become a member of parliament for Ayawaso West Wuogon on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress, wants more to be done for Ghanaians’ interest in local rice to be sustained. In a Facebook post Monday, Mr Dumelo argued that the foreign rice imported into the country is priced cheaper than locally produced rice despite all the duties and shipping costs. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m a farmer and a huge advocate for consumption of made in Ghana products but the patriotic patience of Ghanaians will quickly run out if our local rice farmers don’t do anything about their pricing,” he stated. The unit cost of producing a bag of rice, he noted, depends on external factors, including high interest rates, taxes and fuel costs among others, something he said, is beyond the control of farmers. Mr Dumelo who is a farmer himself, observed the issue was not peculiar to locally produced rice, noting the situation is the same in the chicken industry where local chicken are expensive than the imported one. Ghanaian farmers, he said, cannot be faulted for the high pricing of their produce. “We must do more to support farmers across the country. Competitive pricing and branding are sine qua non [essential] to Ghanaians being patriotic but all hope is not lost. Ghana shall prosper,” he said. By 3news.com|Ghana]]>