• Ghana’s rice producers report over 200,000 tons of unsold stock amid import surges.

• Imports of milled rice rose 77% between 2021 and 2025, outpacing local production.

• The government tasked NAFCO to buy surplus stocks and stabilize the market.

Ghana’s rice industry is raising alarms over rising imports that threaten local producers and undermine national efforts to achieve self-sufficiency. According to the Association of Rice Farmers, Millers, and Maize Growers, more than 200,000 tons of paddy and milled rice from the previous season remain unsold in the country’s main growing areas.

“Farmers cannot sell what they harvested last year, and now we are harvesting again without market access. It is becoming a serious problem,” said Charles Nyaba, the association’s spokesperson, in an interview with City FM on October 29. He attributed the situation to the uncontrolled influx of imported and smuggled rice on the domestic market.

While Ghana produces about 50% of its annual milled rice needs—estimated at 1.8 million tons—imports have continued to rise sharply in recent years. Data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) show that Ghana’s purchases of milled rice on international markets increased by 77.41%, from 620,000 tons in the 2021/2022 marketing year to 1.1 million tons in 2024/2025. For 2025/2026, the USDA expects imports to fall slightly to 925,000 tons.

As a result, local rice prices have dropped due to the influx of imported varieties, which are often cheaper and better marketed, partly because of their perceived higher quality and packaging. Observers say this situation hampers the growth of Ghana’s domestic rice value chain and increases vulnerability to global price fluctuations.

Market prices have fallen by about 50%, yet farmers’ incomes have not improved, leaving them at a disadvantage. This has led processors to halt rice purchases, causing growing concern among producers, said Yaw Adu Poku, president of the Competitive African Rice Platform-Ghana (CARP-Ghana), during the group’s general assembly in Tamale on October 29, according to GhanaWeb. CARP-Ghana works in coordination with the ECOWAS Rice Observatory, which supports efforts to strengthen the regional rice sector.

Government response

To address the problem, the Ghanaian government instructed the National Food Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO) in September to purchase surplus cereals from the unsold 2024 stocks and the expected bumper 2025 harvest. The initiative aims to reduce post-harvest losses, stabilize markets, and reinforce national food security.

A month later, in remarks reported by GhanaWeb on October 24, NAFCO Managing Director George Abradu-Otoo announced that public funds had been mobilized and were available to pay farmers upon delivery. He said a price-setting committee, including the Ministry of Agriculture and farmers’ organizations, was ensuring fair compensation. However, effective collection has yet to begin in production zones.

As Accra, like other ECOWAS members, pursues rice self-sufficiency, CARP-Ghana is calling for stronger trade and market policies that prioritize domestic rice and support producers along the entire value chain—from production to marketing. “If we establish tariff barriers to curb rice imports and smuggling while supporting local production and ensuring a market for Ghanaian rice, it will strengthen our self-sufficiency in the future,” said Mohammed Habib Abdulai, CARP-Ghana’s national coordinator.