This follows a report by GBC’s Radio Ghana that about 70,000 bags of rice cultivated in the region are being sold at give-away prices due to lack of market.

According to the farmers, the development had been compounded by imported rice, which had flooded the market and is selling at relatively lower prices.

Builsa South District currently has nine valleys earmarked for rice production. The land size is 46,000 hectares. Farmers in the area are currently cultivating 1,350 hectares.

The Savanna Agricultural Production Improvement Project, SAPIP, has currently developed additional 700 hectares of farmland at the valleys for rice production.

Currently, more than 70,000 bags of paddy rice are going bad at the rice valleys because farmers are unable to get buyers for their produce. The marketing challenges had put more than 1,000 rice farmers in serious financial stress as they are unable to pay back their bank loans and to plough back for cultivation.

After a tour of some rice farms, the CEO of Buffer Stock Company, Hanan Abdul wahab, said his company will treat the challenges confronting the farmers with emergency.

In an interview with GBC’s Radio Ghana, rice farmers in the area commended government for the timely intervention.

The District Chief Executive for Builsa South, Daniel Kwame Gariba, said by November next year all roads linking the area will be earmarked for construction.

The CEO of Buffer Stock Company, Hanan Abdul Wahab, revealed that government intends to rehabilitate all government silos across the country to enable farmers store their produce.