A broad coalition of Ghana’s leading agricultural groups has announced a nationwide boycott of the 2025 Farmers’ Day celebrations, citing severe challenges facing the country’s food production sector and what they describe as persistent government inaction.

The move, which farmer leaders say is “a united stand for survival”, involves rice producers and millers, maize farmers, mechanisation service providers, input dealers, apex farmer associations, and other agribusiness stakeholders across the country.

It marks the first time in the history of Farmers’ Day that such a large-scale boycott has been declared.

According to a joint statement, the decision stems from deep frustration among farmers, particularly those producing rice, maize, and soya, who say they are struggling to sell their produce despite repeated assurances from government.

The Ministry of Food and Agriculture, in a public statement on 23th September 2025, pledged that all locally produced rice and maize would be purchased through the National Food Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO).

However, farmers say no such purchases have taken place, leaving vast quantities of grain unsold and many producers on the brink of bankruptcy.

Meanwhile, markets nationwide are said to be flooded with cheap, expired, and smuggled imported rice, allegedly brought in through unapproved routes and repackaged by politically connected cartels.

These products, farmers claim, evade taxes and undercut local produce, further worsening their financial situation.

Industry data paints a grim picture. As of last week, over 200,000 metric tonnes of paddy rice from the 2024 harvest remain unsold in warehouses across the Upper East, Northern, and North East Regions.

Projections by the National Rice Development programme indicate that Ghana’s 2025 rice harvest will reach 1.5 million metric tonnes, up from 1.3 million in 2024 yet storage facilities are already overflowing with unsold grain.

Regional figures show 300,000 metric tonnes harvested in the Upper East, 400,000 in North East, 300,000 in Northern, 50,000 in Savannah, 20,000 in Upper West, and 100,000 in Volta. Most of this produce, farmers say, is “locked away with no buyers in sight”.

The coalition has outlined a series of urgent measures it wants government to implement:

• Suspend all foreign rice imports for six months, effective November 2025, and tighten border controls.
• Develop a long-term importation strategy aligned with national production capacity, allowing only limited imports to cover shortfalls and gradually phasing them out.
• Mandate all public institutions including schools, hospitals, prisons, and security services to procure exclusively Ghana-grown rice and maize.
• Release immediate funding to NAFCO from the Ministry of Finance to purchase surplus produce and ease the glut.
• Introduce a guaranteed minimum price for rice and maize to shield farmers from market exploitation.

The farmer associations stressed that the boycott is not an attack on the tradition of Farmers’ Day itself, but rather a symbolic act of protest against the policies that have left many producers struggling to survive.

“This is not about rejecting recognition,” the statement said. “It is about demanding respect through fair policies. We cannot celebrate while our livelihoods collapse.”

The boycott is being supported by a wide network of agricultural bodies, including the Association of Rice Producers and Millers, Chamber of Agribusiness, Association of Soya Value Chain Actors, Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG), Ghana National Association of Farmers and Fishermen (GNAFF), General Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU), CropLife Ghana, Ghana Rice Inter-Professional Body (GRIB), National Seed Trade Association of Ghana (NASTAG), Millers and Processors Associations, Traders and Market Women Associations, and the Association of Parboiled Rice Millers.