Rice farmers at Tono Irrigation Scheme decry low prices amidst glut

The farmers claim that the lack of readily available buyers for their harvested rice has empowered middlemen to exploit the situation, purchasing a 220-kilogram bag at GH¢700, a stark decrease from the GH¢900 received last year for a 180-kilogram bag.

“As the buyers are giving us GH¢700 for the 180-kilogram bag, and the cost of production of 10 bags is 8,500 cedis for 1 acre, what it means is that the farmer will get only GH¢7,000

And that will be a loss of GH¢1,500,” Mr

A female farmer, Doris Adda, expressed her frustration that the government’s quest to rope in many women in agriculture is hampered by the activities of the middlemen.

“As the government is urging women and youth to go into farming, we have produced quality rice that will help the women pay their children’s school fees

“We used to have a standard sack that we continued till date

But the open market buyers have customized their sacks, further enlarging the sacks, taking more from us, and giving us less