Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs), Co-ordinating Directors (CDs), and Presiding Members (PMs) in the Central Region have been encouraged to venture into rice farming to harness the untapped benefits thereof.

Hon. Justina Marigold Assan, Minister for the Central Region speaking at the first Regional Co-ordinating Council Meeting for the year on Tuesday, disclosed that efforts to have the region produce its own rice is finally set to be actualized.

The Central Regional Minister noted that the much talked about Central Agra Rice, is now fit to be launched together with the Assin Akropong Rice Processing Plant, which will see to the packaging and branding of the region's cultivated rice produce.

She took the opportunity to charge MMDCEs, CDs, PMs in the region to take parcels of land and take advantage of the opportunity to cultivate their own rice and other farm produce.

According to her, the economy of the Central Region, just as the rest of the country, is predominantly agro-based, and the need to revamp agriculture towards ensuring a production of raw materials, food security and job creation is prerequisite.

She established that the project supported by the Korean International Development Agency (KOICA) from South Korea, has benefited farmer-based organizations from five beneficiary Districts. Namely, Gomoa East, Assin North, Assin Fosu, Assin South and Twifo Atti-Morkwa.

Consequently, Hon. Justina Marigold Assan indicated that through the KOICA Rice Value Chain Improvement Project, there has been increase in rice production from 16, 246 metric tons in 2021 to 21, 430 metric tons in 2023 which is an average increased yield from 3.37 tons, it's per hectare to 4.7 tons per hectare respectively, following the Mryber.

William Freeman Goku, Environmental Health Officer for the Central Region at the meeting, remarked the region to be recording poor sanitation issues lately, which to its effect, a committee has been set and tasked by the Chief Director of the Regional Co-ordinating Council to ensure that a clean-up campaign is initiated to curb the menace.

Engineer for the Electricity Company of Ghana in the Central Region, Mr. George Amoah, who on behalf of his Regional Manager addressed the region's current state of power, indicated that the challenge the ECG aforehand is battling has to do with fake meters in the system, which is costing them a lot as they find it difficult to account for them.

He added that the ECG is on a mission to replace all unsmart meters with smart ones, and has till date replaced 65,000 of them across the region.

The Central Regional ECG Engineer further recounted his outfit to have made residents of the region enjoy some benefits in its fight against the recent intermittent power outages, including the installation of some 89 transformers of various sizes, cost the power distribution company an amount of GH¢12,104,154.

Sompaonline.com/Eric Annan