Seven years ago, Afaama Asaraga and her husband were forced to give up their daughter into marriage. Their rice was fetching lower and lower prices and they could not afford to continue with their eldest child’s education. Marrying her off seemed their only option.
Then, last year, Afaama lost her husband. Now a widow with six mouths to feed and a hectare of rice which continues to lose its value, the future is bleak.
‘Christian Aid’s partners are pressuring their government to put Ghana’s people first’
Afaama simply cannot compete against the imported rice which has flooded Ghana.
America prevails
Ghanaians are actually eating more rice than ever. In the 1960s, they consumed 2.4 million tonnes a year, but by the 1990s this figure had risen to 120 million tonnes.
It’s not the local farmers who have benefited most, though. More than half of the rice consumed in Ghana is imported, costing the country $102 million. Most is from the US.
American producers can sell their rice far cheaper – 20 per cent cheaper, in fact – because their costs are lower. This is thanks to low import tariffs in Ghana and government subsidies back home to the tune of $1.3 billion a year. And everyone wants to buy American rice. It’s well packaged and well advertised. It’s whiter. And, at half the price, who can blame them?
A call for help
Ghanaian farmers like Afaama don’t stand a chance.
More than 60 per cent of Ghanaians make a living from agriculture. Rice farmers are not alone in having to compete at a disadvantage with imported goods. Poultry, tomatoes and cotton are all staple industries under threat.
Yet there is a simple answer to the problem. If the import tariffs were made higher, the price of imported goods would go up and local goods would stand a chance in the markets.
As Afaama says: ‘The government should ensure that imports do not continue as they are so that we can have a means of livelihood, just as those farmers who produce the imported rice do.
‘This would mean that my children could go to school just the same as the children of those who produce the imported rice.’
Simple answers aren’t always straightforward, though. In 2003 the Ghanaian government tried to introduce protective measures for its farmers. Then the IMF stepped in and pressured them to drop their plans. So Ghanaian farmers continue to struggle.
Salimah Mohammed drying rice in her compound. Farmers say that the imports are sometimes better quality, but they do not have the resources to improve their milling.
photo: Chrsitian Aid / Penny Tweedie
Fighting on
But Christian Aid partners in Ghana are not giving up the fight – and are aiming to beat the IMF at their own game, by pressuring their government to put Ghana’s people first.
Following 2005’s Global Week of Action, which saw farmers from all corners of the country descended on the capital, Accra, to demand trade justice, the campaign in Ghana has gained renewed momentum.
Now, with Christian Aid’s support, a range of organisations and farmers’ networks, including our partners ISODEC and SEND, are pooling efforts and resources behind a campaign to raise import tariffs on rice to 40 per cent for a period of five to ten years. Enough time to strengthen the economy and give farmers a chance to catch up.
This coalition will focus on a different sector of the economy each year: rice in year one, tomatoes in year two, and chicken in year three.
Bishop Akolgo, ISODEC’s executive director, explains. ‘I feel that changing the rules in favour of poor farmers will be achievable. We need to sustain what we have started and remind them [the government and IMF] that these issues are vital to the wellbeing of the economy.’
As the Bishop says, the Ghanaian government has made the right noises in the past – now it needs to stand up to the IMF and implement the policies it has promised the people.