Poverty is the major cause of food insecurity worldwide. It is strongly argued that trade liberalisation has the tendency to impoverish small-scale domestic food producers, by leading to increased cheap imports that would out-compete local produce. In Ghana, the highest incidence of poverty occurs in the agricultural sector which is dominated by small holders. Statistics indicate that food crop farmers had a poverty incidence of 68% in 1991/1992 and 59% in 1998/1999 (Offei-Nkansah and Antwi-Asare, 2005). Arguably, the influx of cheap imported food items is depriving most farmers from developing countries their source of livelihood through unfair competition. Rice, one of the world's most important basic foods, constitutes a staple food for about half of the world's population and provides a source of living to about two billion people. Millions of rice farmers in developing countries, especially Ghana, cannot earn a living because of cheap, often dumped, rice imports. In other countries, a similar story can be told in the case of the import of maize and soybeans. A research commissioned by the General Agricultural Workers’ Union of Ghana revealed the concern that large small-holder farmers are the most vulnerable and women the hardest hit. GAWU maintains that food should not be viewed only according to the free market logic. But plight and fate of thousands of small scale farmers are too important to be neglected for the sake of trade liberalisation. According to a research paper by advocacy organisation Third World Network, the swift reduction of applied tariffs has resulted in a very significant increase in imports of rice, tomatoes and poultry products, which have been heavily subsidised by the governments of the countries producing them. The study has also found that the removal of government subsidies and support have adversely affected the competitiveness of small farmers, and contributed to an unequal market situation, whereby local Ghanaian farmers receiving little state support have to compete with farmers and companies in developed countries that are heavily subsidised. In the US, rice production has escalated to levels beyond domestic requirements and this has led the government to implement strategies such as export subsidies to help the industry to export. This has resulted in the growth of US rice exports by 60% in the past 20 years, reaching 3.8 million tonnes in 2003. In 2003, the US paid $1.3bn in rice subsidies to its farmers and sold the crop for $1.7bn, effectively footing the bill for 72% of the crop. In Accra’s bustling market the harmful effect of US policy is having on Ghana’s rice-growers is easy to see. Huge billboard adverts for Chicago Star Rice stare down on hawkers; bags of imported rice reach to the ceiling of local shops. Shop-keeper Charles Yeboah’s explains that he no longer stocks Ghanaian rice: "I can’t sell it,” he explains. “The quality of the imported rice is so much better that the local product, so even though it costs more, people buy it.” Furthermore, he adds, Ghanaian rice is only available for six months of the year. But Minister for Food and Agriculture Ernest Debrah has said in an interview that it was in response to the plight of the farmers that government commissioned a 60,000-bag capacity warehouse in Accra for the storage of locally produced rice. The move, according to him, was to ensure that locally produced rice, which most often suffered from marketing problems, could be obtained from one centrally located point for distribution, especially to support the Government’s School Feeding Programme. The warehouse is being managed by the Ghana Rice Inter-professional Body through a revolving credit facility of GH¢ 2million from Merchant Bank Ghana Limited. With the revolving credit, GRIB would purchase paddy rice from farmers, process it and supply it through the warehousing system to its clients across the country. The warehouse is also open to new clients all year round. Mr Debrah indicated that this intervention was intended to increase the local rice production in the future, since rice production had stalled for some time now due to the lack of market. The move is also to encourage Ghanaians to patronise and develop a special taste for the local rice, which would be available all year round at a fixed rate throughout the country from the distribution point. Mr Debrah also said that aside the Ghana School Feeding Programme, that would henceforth lift its monthly requirements from the GRIB warehouse and pay GRIB/Merchant Bank Ghana Limited, other institutions such as the military, police and the other subvented organisations were also required to get their supplies from the GRIB warehouse. “All these interventions would not work if Ghanaians do not patronize our locally produced rice,” he said. “Our local rice is more nutritious than all the imported brands because of the lower duration of warehousing.” The Minister explained that to ensure the quality of local rice was improved; the government have donated a rice colour sorter machine to GRIB through the assistance of the French Embassy. “Additionally, over the past few years, Government has supported the local rice industry through the provision of rice millers with de-stoners, power tillers, tractors and water pumps.” Source: Statesman