The Minister of Commerce and Industry, Amin Modad, says the Government of Liberia is exploring all efforts to reduce the continuous hike in the price of rice, the nation's staple.

Minister Modad, who has come under fire for his recently pronounced conflicting price for rice on the Liberian Market, assured the public that the government has committed to investing 200,000 United States dollars in local rice production to reduce scarcity.

He says the government is aware of continuous threats to the price of rice globally and has engaged importers to remedy the situation, noting that local production is crucial to finding a lasting solution.

"The price of rice hasn't gone up, and one thing we have done as a government is to engage importers to find a solution to this crisis holistically, and one of the things we have all agreed on is to invest in local production, Minister Modad stresses.

He discloses that the government is contributing US$200,000 to importers for the packaging of locally made "Country Rice, which he says will be sold cheaper in the Liberian Market.

The Commerce Minister made the statement briefly on Tuesday, June 4, 2024, when he appeared before the Plenary of the House of Representatives (HOR) to explain why he shouldn't be held in contempt for failure to appear for questioning over controversies surrounding the rice saga in Liberia.

Speaking briefly with reporters, he underscored that the government attaches keen interest in the production of domestic rice, so they have seen significant reasons to invest more in local

Production, as a sustainable measure to addressing the hike in price of the commodity.

"There has never been an increase in the price of tice; the price of rice has not gone up, and the President has intervened, and we have looked at it holistically; the price of rice stands at 16.75 United States dollars per bag," Modad explains. Edited by Jonathan Browne