Local rice cheaper than imported ones – Journalist schools John Dumelo

The head of New Media at Citi FM and Citi TV, Kojo Akoto Boateng has schooled Ghanaian actor/farmer John Dumelo on the prices of local rice.

In a post on Facebook sighted by zionfelix.net, John Dumelo argued that imported rice is relatively cheaper.

The actor was of the view that many Ghanaians would opt for local rice if it’s cheaper.

He wrote: “It will interest you to know that imported rice ( after paying all the shipping and duties at the port) is still cheaper than our local rice. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a farmer and a huge advocate for consumption of made in Ghana products but the patriotic patience of Ghanaians will quickly run out if our local rice farmers don’t do anything about their pricing. Same as our local chicken and the imported one. Once it’s cheap, it’s the best. It might not be the fault of the farmers when pricing. The unit cost of producing a bag of rice depends on external factors(high interest rates, taxes, fuel costs etc) which is beyond their control. We must do more to support farmers across the country. Competitive pricing and branding are sine qua non to Ghanaians being patriotic but all hope is not lost. Ghana shall prosper.”

However, Kojo Boateng who is also an investor in agriculture believes otherwise.

Backing his argument with facts, the Citi FM journalist arrived at how cheap local rice are with the aid of the ESOKO commodity index of October 2019.

He rebutted:

“This morning, John Dumelo posted about rice prices and what we need to do to enable the growth of the industry.

As much as I believe he posted that with good intent, I think the records must be set straight.

LOCAL RICE is CHEAPER than the average IMPORTED BRAND.

According to the ESOKO commodity index of October 2019, local rice 100KG averages GHS 330.

It comes down to about a range of GHS25 to GHS37 depending on the brand and location.

Imported rice, according to the same ESOKO commodity index sells for GHS354 for the 50KG and comes down to between 30 and 90 cedis for the 5KG bag.

Truth is, all the regular imported brands we know do not sell for less than 40 cedis on average (this is me doing the minimalist calculation).

So John misinformed his followers in an attempt to join a conversation that must be approached with fact and tact.

Keep eating your local rice.

#GhanaRiceDeyBe

#ChristmasMadeinGhana

#OperationFeedYourself #OFY.”