The leadership of rice producers and millers, maize farmers, mechanisation service providers across Ghana have resolved to boycott the 2025 Farmers’ Day celebrations at the district, regional, and national levels.
These groups also include input dealers, apex farmer associations and agribusiness stakeholders.
A statement issued in Accra by the Committee for the Promotion of Local Rice and Other Commodities said the unprecedented decision reflected the deep frustration of farmers over the worsening crisis in Ghana’s food production sector, particularly among rice, maize, and soya producers.
It said that despite repeated government assurances, including a public statement issued on September 23, 2025, by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, promising to buy every grain of rice and maize through the National Food Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO), farmers were still waiting for that to happen.
It said no action had been taken, and the situation had left many producers unable to sell their harvests.
Meanwhile, markets across the country are being flooded with cheap, expired, and smuggled imported rice.
“Such practices are crippling Ghanaian farmers, who cannot sell at competitive prices and are being driven into debt and bankruptcy,” it added.
“As of last week, over 200,000 metric tons of paddy rice from the 2024 season remain unsold in warehouses across the Upper East, Northern, and North East regions,” it said.
The National Rice Development data projects that Ghana’s harvest for 2025 will reach 1.5 million metric tons, an increase from 1.3 million in 2024.
It said already, significant volumes have been harvested: 300,000 Metric Tonnes in Upper East, 400,000 Metric Tonnes in North East, 300,000 Metric Tonnes in Northern, 50,000 Metric Tonnes in Savannah, 20,000 Metric Tonnes in Upper West, and 100,000 Metric Tonnes in Volta.
“All of this produce sits locked away without buyers,” it added.
It said farmers were demanding suspension of all foreign rice imports for six months and tightening of border controls, effective November 2025.
It also called for the development of a medium- to long-term importation strategy based on national production capacity, allowing only limited imports to cover shortfalls, and gradually phasing out imports altogether.
The statement also said the government should mandate all public institutions, such as: schools, hospitals, prisons, and the security services to procure exclusively Ghana rice and maize from local farmers and millers.
It said the government should instruct the Ministry of Finance to urgently release substantial funding for NAFCO to purchase surplus maize and rice and reduce the glut, and introduce a guaranteed minimum price for rice and maize to protect farmers from exploitation.
The statement said farmers, processors, traders, and all actors along Ghana’s agricultural value chain were united in this call.
“We will boycott the 2025 Farmers’ Day celebrations at every level until these urgent demands are addressed,” it added.
It said the action was not an attack on the idea of honouring farmers but instead, it was a firm and united statement that policies and practices which undermine farmers could not be celebrated while their livelihoods collapse.
Actors endorsing the boycott include the Association of Rice Producers and Millers, Chamber of Agribusiness, the Association of Soya Value Chain Actors, Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG) and Ghana National Association of Farmers and Fishermen (GNAFF).
The rest are General Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU), CropLife Ghana, Ghana Rice Inter-Professional Body (GRIB), National Seed Trade Association of Ghana (NASTAG), Millers and Processors Associations, Traders and Market Women Associations and Association of Parboiled Rice Millers.
