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The Chief Executive Officer of the Tree Crops Development Authority of Ghana (TCDA), William Agyapong Quaittoo, has reiterated that it is mandatory by law for all actors in the cashew value chain to register with his outfit before being permitted to operate.
He has therefore emphasised that anyone who refuses to register and secure a licence before the 2024 cashew season commences shall not be allowed to buy or export any cashew, and anyone found culpable will face prosecution.
He has therefore emphasised that anyone who refuses to register and secure a licence before the 2024 cashew season commences shall not be allowed to buy or export any cashew, and anyone found culpable will face prosecution.
“What I have revealed here today is the Tree Crops Development Authority Act 2019, which is numbered 2010, and the regulation has just been passed by Parliament.”
“It is not a new law, and we are going to educate people on this new regulation on how to handle the Cashew business, the need to acquire a licence before operating, and the penalty for operating in the field without a licence,” he said as aired on Rainbow Radio Accra.
Alex Owusu Agyei, the Chairman of the Cashew Traders and Exporters Association of Ghana, said the laws also ban foreigners from coming to directly buy cashew nuts from farmers, but they are mandated to employ Ghanaians to work for them even after acquiring licences.
“Every foreigner who has acquired a licence has every right to operate in the cashew business, but that person is required to have a warehouse here in Ghana and must employ Ghanaians to work in the business while the person assumes the supervisory role, and that is what the new regulation is saying.”
