The French government is supporting the country's rice sector with two financing agreements for a period of five years. Under the support prograrmne, 13.8 million euros will be invested to develop low land rice production in the North¬ern, Upper East, Upper West and Volta regions. A statement from the French Embassy said an agreement to that effect had been signed by the' Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Prof. George Gyan-Baffour, and the acting Resident Manager of the Agence Francaise de Developement (AFD), Ms Caroline Piquet, in Accra. The ceremony was witnessed by the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr Ernest Debrah, and the French Ambassador to Ghana, Mr. Peirre Jaquemot. The statement said 6,500 hectares of low land in various areas would be developed with rice control infrastructure and technical support given to the farmers. It said the project would help strengthen professional organisations, farmers, processors, service providers and marketers, while existing financial institutions would also be supported to facilitate credit to various stakeholders in the sector. The statement said financing would also be given for research activities into rice production. At the national level, it said, support would be offered to the Ghana Rice Inter-Professional Body (GRIB) to help in the promotion of local rice through the improvement of quality, advertisement, marketing and policy dialogue initiatives. The statement said the support to GRIB was a continuation of previous programmes under the French government's co-operation with the country. It said the programme would be administered by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) staff at the national, regional and district levels, who would plan, monitor and co-ordinate all activities involved. The statement said with that, MOFA would receive technical assistance and expertise. The statement said under a Partnership Framework Document of 2006 to 2010, signed between the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and the French Ministry of Co-operation, agriculture was a major area of concentration under French/Ghana co-operation initiatives. It said that also reflected the government of Ghana's commitment to improving food security in the country. Source: Daily Graphic