Ghana Rice Production to Fall 18% in 2022-2023

By George Mwangi

Special to Dow Jones Newswires

Ghana's milled-rice production for the marketing year October 2022 through September 2023 is forecast to fall 18% due to dry weather conditions and rising fertilizer prices, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Production is expected to drop to 450,000 metric tons from 550,000 tons forecast for the current year, the USDA said late Friday in its Ghana annual grain and feed report.

During the 2021 rice planting season--April to May for the southern part of the country and May to July for the northern part--many rice farmers were disappointed with the delayed supply of the government's subsidized fertilizers, as well as a reduced subsidy rate of 38% instead of 50% as in preceding years, the USDA said.

"Fertilizer is now almost inaccessible to the farmers," the USDA said. "This is due to the soaring global prices, driven by the Russia-Ukraine conflict."

In 2022-2023, Ghana's rice imports are forecast at 1.0 million tons, an increase of about 11% over the current year, it said.

"This increase is in response to the shortfall in domestic supply that will be induced by lower-than-expected domestic production," it said.

Vietnam, India, Thailand, China and Pakistan are the main rice suppliers to Ghana.

The market share of U.S. rice in Ghana has shown signs of recovery lately, after dropping to 1% in 2015, the USDA said.

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04-12-22 0755ET