Rice farmers at Oda Nkwanta, a farming community in the Birim Central Municipality of the Eastern Region, have voiced frustration over the lack of ready markets and storage facilities for their produce.
They say the situation is crippling their livelihoods and threatening the future of rice farming in the area.
The farmers cautioned that without urgent intervention, the challenges could undermine the sustainability of rice production and weaken prospects for other agricultural ventures.
Oda Nkwanta is home to five milling centres serving over 1,000 farmers and producing high-quality rice for consumers. But operators of two of these mills, Kwame Boateng and Alhaji Musa Fusieni, warn that continued importation of foreign rice by successive governments, if not curtailed, could collapse their operations.
The traditional leadership has also raised concerns. Nana Asiedua Anokyewaa, Queen Mother of Oda Nkwanta, lamented that the lack of reliable buyers is stifling the local economy since money is not circulating as it should.
Many farmers, some with decades of experience, say they have never faced challenges of this scale.
Municipal Chief Executive for Birim Central, Solomon Brako Kusi, attributed the difficulties to a bumper harvest. He disclosed that the assembly will soon engage caterers of the School Feeding Programme and the Ministry of Education to ensure schools purchase rice directly from local farmers as part of efforts to sustain the industry.
