REBIRTH OF AVEYIME RICE PROJECT

IT is good news that after nearly eight years of inactivity, the Aveyime Rice Project bounces back within the next two weeks.
At the relaunch of the project last Friday, the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr Ernest Debrah, gave the assurance that “we will not put the project into the hands of people who will fail to deliver and leave it to collapse”.
Equally reassuring was the pledge made by the Chief Executive Officer of Prairie Texas Incorporated (PTI), investors in the project, Mr Everest Anderson, that, “Sure, there will be individual and community problems and issues in the days and years to come. However, with mutual understanding and a united goal, we can solve any difficulty and keep moving forward.”
Indeed, many issues have dogged the project in the past and some of those issues remain unsolved at this phase of the project.
One major challenge that will confront the new investors in the Aveyime Rice Project will be the agitation by the people of the area for the payment of compensation.
Although the payment of compensation is not the responsibility of the investors but the government, which acquired the land for the project, the investors have to find a way of assuaging the feelings of the people for the delay in the payment of their compensation.
At a press conference in Accra last Monday, a spokesman of the citizens of Aveyime had expressed regret that “when the land was acquired by Executive Instrument (EI 15) in 1997, no compensation was paid, no arrangement was made for future payments and to date nothing has been paid”.
The people of the area, particularly the youth, feel that their future is threatened because they have lost their heritage — the land — to the investors.
Their concerns make one wonder whether their land or the compensation thereof could have been considered as equity to guarantee their future stake in the project.
Also, the agitation by the landowners for a stake in the project or the payment of compensation can be reduced if the new owners can guarantee them a percentage of the workforce.
It is unfortunate that the people in the area think that with the new ownership arrangement, public interest in the project has been lost.
With the rising cost of food on the world market, the production of rice for local consumption and export will greatly benefit all Ghanaians.
It is true that a profit motive may have driven the American investors to the Aveyime Rice Project. But whatever the case may be, some benefits will accrue to the local people, the government and all Ghanaians.
The Daily Graphic, however, calls on the government to expedite action on the payment of compensation to those whose lands have been acquired for the project.
The government should not drag its feet on this matter, to the point where the youth of the area will become very frustrated by its inaction and thereby create an unhealthy environment for the investors to achieve their target.
Everything must be done to avoid a repetition of the controversies that dogged the initial phase of the project.
The teething problems must be addressed to ensure the success of the rice project to provide food at affordable prices for our people.