Member of Parliament for Tamale South, Haruna Iddrisu has called on the government to prioritise and invest more in the agricultural sector to reduce the country's substantial import bill.

The legislator urged the government to introduce policy interventions that would support the expansion and diversification of exports, particularly focusing on rice and sugar.

He was speaking on Joy FM's Super Morning Show on Wednesday, November 15 ahead of the Finance Minister's presentation of the 2024 budget.

The MP emphasised the need to encourage Ghanaians to get into rice farming to achieve self-sufficiency.

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He stated that Ghanaian farmers can cultivate rice and sugar to meet the domestic demand.

"We need to expand and diversify exports. We need to reduce our import regime, particularly the import bill which is over $2 billion with a focus on rice and sugar. At least if we can’t do sugar immediately, we can do rice."

"We must increase investment in the agricultural sector and mobilise Ghanaians into rice farming and then we can feed ourselves and this will take policy intervention to be able to do that."

The objective of the 2024 presentation is to articulate strategies for revenue generation and propose policies to tackle the current economic challenges.