By Sefakor Fekpe, bird story agency

Young entrepreneurs in Ghana are building businesses around local rice production, using technology and value-chain innovations to improve quality, boost profits, and challenge imported brands.

Emmanuel Narh-Zaidor, a 31-year-old from southeastern Ghana, watched as farmers prepared the soil for the upcoming planting season. Hundreds of white ibis birds waded through his rice field in search of insects. As the owner of the farm, he felt a quiet sense of satisfaction.

He grows rice on two acres of irrigated land at the Kpong Irrigation Scheme (KIS) site in Asutuare, a town about 92 kilometres northeast of Accra. The state-run KIS project supports smallholder rice farmers with year-round production, aiming to improve livelihoods and strengthen Ghana’s food security.

Narh-Zaidor comes from a family of smallholder farmers who grow a range of crops, including rice, chilli peppers and okra.

After earning a bachelor’s degree in accounting in 2019, he had hoped to work for Golden Exotics, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the French company Groupe Compagnie Fruitière. Founded in 2003, Golden Exotics is Ghana’s leading producer of pineapples and bananas, with its produce destined for European markets.

He was not hired. This compelled him to look for land to lease so that he could begin his own rice production operation. He now utilises distance measurement apps and mechanisation to improve upon the techniques that he saw his parents employ in the past, largely through manual labour and simple farming tools.

One of the major challenges previously faced by smallholder rice farmers in Asutuare was poor processing, which affected the quality of the final product.

That began to change in 2002 when a local investor established a milling centre to address the gap. Now managed by 23-year-old Joseph Zilevu, the facility has expanded its operations to include equipment that processes paddy rice into different grades to suit consumer preferences.

“In a day, we mill about 150 bags of rice – the 50-kilogram bags,” says Zilevu.

Each grade of milled rice is used in different local dishes, such as akple – a dough-like starch made from corn flour – and waakye, a dish of boiled rice mixed with kidney beans.

As a result, farmers are able to sell all grades of rice and earn a decent profit.

Over the past decade, young entrepreneurs have played a key role in transforming Ghana’s agriculture. They are adopting technologies such as drones for mapping, aerial insecticide spraying, seed broadcasting, and monitoring soil moisture.

Artificial intelligence is also playing a role. The Plantix app, for instance, uses AI to detect plant diseases from photographs. Geoffrey Donkor, a 23-year-old who works with Agrokings Farms, manages over 500 hectares of rice fields in Kasunya, near Asutuare. He says the app is especially helpful for newcomers to farming.

“I gained much experience in the field, but this app also guides me to learn and confirm changes in the plant. It gives you enough knowledge about the nature of rice and what to expect,” Donkor explained.

Earlier this year, Development Bank Ghana and its partners piloted an AI-powered chatbot called FarmerAI, designed to provide farmers with advice on improving crop yields. Thousands of rice farmers are expected to access the service via WhatsApp.

“At Development Bank Ghana, our mandate is to strengthen economic resilience and drive sustainable growth. FarmerAI is more than just technology; it’s about giving farmers the knowledge and confidence to improve their yields, tackle challenges, and build a better future for their families and communities. When our farmers thrive, our entire nation benefits,” said Randolph Nsor-Ambala, CEO of Development Bank Ghana.

Agrokings Farms, Newage Agric Solutions, Cudjoe Abimash Farms and other local commercial rice production companies have invested millions of dollars into the sector, aiming to change the perception of local rice being poor in quality compared to the imported brands.

Martin Nartey, general manager of Newage Agric Solutions, explained how the company, which started as an agro-input trader, transitioned into rice production and processing through an out-grower scheme.

“We provide inputs on credit to smallholder farmers and they repay us back in commodity. The commodity now becomes an input for another arm of our business which is the commodity trade which is currently called Evivi Foods. We have a whole industrial hub for our rice mill, poultry and aquaculture,” Martin said.

The company began with five staff members and has since grown to 72 permanent employees, most of whom are under the age of 40.

Rising demand for its products has enabled Newage Agric Solutions to expand its operations. It no longer relies on external milling centres to package its rice. The company has set up a milling facility with a capacity of 10,000 tonnes, which Martin said can handle all the paddy rice harvested from their fields.

“Now we’re in the global village so we’re picking technology not only from Ghana but from across the world and our state-of-the-art milling machinery that we have can give us that rice that can compete with other imported rice.”

Alex Offei, who is in his mid-30s, manages Max Industries, a technology-driven company equipped with dryers and composite mills. Over the past five years, the company has helped reshape the image of local rice through competitive packaging.

With 17 permanent employees, its 100-tonne capacity milling centre often runs out of space during peak demand periods.

Offei envisions a Ghanaian rice industry with distribution networks that can rival those of imported brands – one where the average Ghanaian, regardless of location, can walk into a nearby shop and find packaged local rice on the shelf.

While the industry is growing steadily, most local rice brands still have a strong presence only in urban areas, typically in shopping malls and select local stores.

Agribusiness strategist, Kojo Akoto Boateng, encourages youth to tap into other opportunities in the entire value chain, beyond farming, to meet the growing demand for local rice.

He noted that the by-products of rice, such as the stalk and husk, can yield other businesses, such as furniture-making. This will generate more income for farmers and multiply jobs in the ecosystem.

“For every tonne of paddy rice, you will get about 60% milled rice; It’s an opportunity to convert the rice husk into micronised biomass silica boards for furniture. Even the rice straw can be used for that.”

As Ghana’s youth continue to plough through Ghana’s agricultural revolution with innovations, they can unleash a promising future for sustainable growth in the value chain.

/bird story agency