Member of Parliament for Tamale South, Haruna Iddrisu, has urged the government to prioritize and invest more in the agricultural sector to reduce the country’s substantial import bill.
Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Wednesday, November 15, ahead of the Finance Minister’s presentation of the 2024 budget today, the legislator called for policy interventions supporting the expansion and diversification of exports, with a specific focus on rice and sugar.
Haruna Iddrisu emphasized the importance of encouraging Ghanaians to engage in rice farming to achieve self-sufficiency. He believes that Ghanaian farmers can cultivate rice and sugar to meet domestic demand, contributing to a reduction in imports.
“We need to expand and diversify exports. We need to reduce our import regime, particularly the import bill which is over $2 billion with a focus on rice and sugar. At least if we can’t do sugar immediately, we can do rice.”
“We must increase investment in the agricultural sector and mobilise Ghanaians into rice farming and then we can feed ourselves and this will take policy intervention to be able to do that.”
The aim of the 2024 budget presentation is to outline strategies for revenue generation and propose policies to address the existing economic challenges.