GHANA –The Jospong Group of Ghana (JGC), a diversified holding company, has partnered with several Thai rice industry companies to develop an integrated rice farming scheme in a bid to increase rice production in the West African country.

The partnership, which is in relation to the Ghana-Thailand Rice Project, was cemented by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the sidelines of a Thailand-Ghana Business Conference at Grand Fortune, Bangkok in Thailand on Sunday, March 19, 2023.

The companies, numbering 10 cuts across the rice value chain, to include fertilizer producers, dealers of rice milling equipment, and seedling research centers, among others

Among them are Smart Engineering Consultants Company, FairAgora Asia Ltd., New Kaset Thai Company Ltd., TAMCO Trading International Co. Ltd., Glofert Growing Growth, and Hypro Foods World Co Ltd.

During the signing, Dr. Agyepong, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Asian African Consortium (AAC) approved the JGC while the various Chief Executives Officers signed for their companies.

Present at the signing ceremony were the Deputy Minister for Food and Agriculture in charge of Crops, Yaw Addo Frimpong, Ghana’s High Commissioner to Malaysia, Mrs. Florence B. Akonor, Honorary Consul of Ghana in Thailand, Dr. Sicha Singsomboon, and the Founder and Executive Chairman of the JGC, Dr. Joseph Siaw Agyepong

According to the deputy Agric Minister, as a leader in rice production, Thailand can support Ghana in its efforts to close its rice consumption demand gap and also produce in excess to export to countries within the West African sub-region

The business forum was a continuation of the Ghana-Thailand Rice Project that was started five months ago and initiated through the instrumentality of the Executive Chairman of the JGC, Dr. Siaw Agyepong

According to sources, the project initiation followed the call from Ghana’s president Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo who tasked the Ministry of Agriculture and all in the private sector to go to any length to ensure self-sufficiency of rice in the country.

Ghana’s consumption demand for rice is between 1.2 million and 1.4 million against a production capacity of 600,000 metric tonnes.

Yaw Addo Frimpong commended that the partnership is timely as it will help bridge the gap in production and ultimately reduce imports.

The business conference, which brought together captains of Thailand’s rice industry and several companies, and a Ghanaian delegation was on the theme: ‘Ghana-Thailand Business Forum; Partnership for Sustainable Rice Production in Ghana.’

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