Rice farmers in the Volta Region have expressed concern about negative practices involved in the sale of rice to companies and that if the government does not intervene, it would not only discourage rice farmers and prospective youth who would want to take cultivation of rice as a business, but also render the policy of Planting for Food and Jobs meaningless to the people.
The rice farmers admitted that the government’s policy of Planting for Food and Jobs had so far proven to be one of the best, because farmers have enjoyed free services of agriculture extension officers, supply of seedlings and subsidised fertilisers among others, which made it possible for them to expand their farms, however, they are facing a serious problem regarding the sale of the product.
According to the rice farmers, in 2019 rice production was highly successful due to the good agriculture practices, subsidised seedlings and fertilisers, but the dream of the rice farmers of good returns from the bumper harvest to pay off the loans and plough back the rest into the cultivation of rice in the 2020 farming season was shattered by what they described as deliberate negative activities by a buying company.
Speaking at a press conference on one of the rice farms at Golokuati in the Afadzato South District, a spokesperson for rice farmers in the Volta Region, Mr. Wonder Setsoafia, said farmers in Afadzato South, Hohoe Municipality and Akatsi South Districts sold hundreds of tonnes of paddy rice to Strongman Rice Milling Company Limited in August and December 2019, at a total cost of GH¢307,555.56, with the agreement to be paid within two weeks.
Mr. Setsoafia said the rice farmers were, however, disappointed that Strongman Rice Milling Company Limited, producers of the popular brand (Mr. Rabbit Jasmine rice), failed to pay the farmers, and upon persistent visits to the company’s processing factory at Akuse, it was discovered that all the rice purchased from them had been processed and sold, but the company was deliberately refusing to pay them.
He said since the monies used in the cultivation of the rice were from loans, the time to pay back such loans had elapsed, therefore, pressure was on them to pay.
This difficult situation compelled the rice farmers to pursue the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Strongman Rice Milling Company Limited, Mr. Mike Darko, to his office at Dzorwulu in Accra to retrieve their monies, but they (rice farmers) were refused entry.
According to Mr. Setsoafia, due to the intensive pressure on the company it paid GH¢152,320 out of the total amount, remaining GH¢155,235.56, which had remained unpaid for more than one year.
Even though a petition from the rice farmers had been delivered to the Minister for Food and Agriculture almost a year ago, nothing had been done about the situation.
The petition presented to the Minister for Food and Agriculture, which a copy was given to The Chronicle, read: “We wish to petition the Hon. Minister for Food and Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, on the fraudulent activities by Strongman Rice Milling Company Limited (producers of Mr. Rabbit Jasmine Rice) on some local rice farmers in the Volta Region.”
“The recent promotion of the local rice campaign by the government of Ghana and other media houses for Ghanaians to patronise local rice, gave us the urge to increase our production beyond subsistence level to meet demand for the Ghanaian rice through the priceless effort by you, Hon. the Minister of Agriculture, and our rice cultivation was successful.
“Farmers borrowed money from individuals and financial institutions at very high interest rates for paddy rice production, but the Strongman Rice Milling Company Limited, after purchasing tonnes of our products involving thousands of Ghana Cedis, refused to pay, thereby, making some local rice farmers to retire by force from rice cultivation and had gone into hiding from debtors.
“The issue was reported to the Ghana Rice Inter-Professional Body (GRIB) Chairman, Nana Ayeh, who also called the said company severally, but they never bothered to heed to the call to pay off the debt owed the rice farmers from the Volta Region, and we are, by this petition, appealing to you to help us retrieve our money.”
Mr. Setsoafia continued that the daily stress on the farmers to repay loans invested in the cultivation, again made it possible for them to report the conduct of Mr. Mike Darko to the Police Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters in Accra, but, unfortunately for them (rice farmers), since 2nd October, 2020 when they petitioned the police, they had heard nothing about the case.
The petition the rice farmers wrote to the CID Headquarters and signed by two representatives, Mr. Francis Yao Gankui and Rev. Raphael Fabian Kadadza, read: “We, Francis Yao Gankui, Rev. Raphael Fabian Kadadza and others, humbly wish to petition your high office against one Mike Darko of Strongman Rice Milling Company Limited on cell phone number (0540112970) for fraud.
“In August and December 2019 respectively, Mike Darko, CEO of Strongman Rice Milling Company Limited, purchased rice amounting to GH¢157,014.97 from us. That till date, he has failed to pay us and all efforts made to reach him have proven futile, as he has vacated his formal office at Tema and Dzorwulu respectively. We are, therefore, by this petition, appealing to your good office to assist us in this issue.”
Mr. Setsoafia explained that the petition to the police became much necessary in view of the fact that they (rice farmers) regarded the activities of Mike Darko as a deliberate plan to deprive them from their hard earned money, because the two offices of the Strongman Rice Milling Company Limited known to them at Tema and Accra were relocated to an unknown place, and the farmers were in a fix as to how to retrieve their monies.
He, therefore, explained that all attempts to get their monies back have failed, since they were no longer in a position to locate the offices of the company, and said their hope was to engage the services of the media, and appealed, through the Volta Regional Minister, to the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to intervene and help them to retrieve their monies to enable them continue with their rice cultivation business.
Mr. Setsoafia stressed that the current situation was a threat to commercial farming in the country, because after the government had put in place measures to motivate farmers to produce more, as well as to attract the youth to take up agriculture as a business, some companies like Strongman Rice Milling Company Limited were taking advantage of the opportunity to perpetuate fraud on the farmers.
He said it was important for the government to ensure that rice farmers were paid, as well as put in place security measures for farmers not to fall victim to any such activities of buying companies that would be dealing with farmers in the future.
The post Rice farmers in Volta appeal to President; to help retrieve thousands of cedis Strongman Rice Milling Company refuses to pay after purchase of rice appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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