Exporters of harmful vegetables are economic saboteurs - GEPA

Mr Gideon Boye Quarcoo, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA), has described exporters of harmful and pest infested vegetables without compliance to the required exports standards as economic saboteurs of the sector.

He said those who are not complying have caused the ban placed on a number of vegetables which also affected those who are complying.

He said this has negative rippling effect on the economy as it would lead to a significant drop of export sales and reduction in export trade.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Accra, Mr Quarcoo said buyers of such vegetables may look for alternative markets.

He the cost of the ban on the vegetables cannot be counted as it involves millions of dollars.

The affected vegetables include; Capsicum, Solanum species example; Aubergines, Momordica, Luffa and Lagenaria (gourd family).

Mr Quarcoo said another effect is that it could also result in the laying off of farm workers in the sub-sector and families depending on such businesses would suffer.

He said the GEPA has geared up towards educating farmers on ensuring that the required standards are complied.

He said it is the lack of compliance that makes farmers to end up sending bad products to the EU market.

Mr Quarcoo said some export operators buy from Agbogboloshie market in Accra which creates traceability problem because the traders are not the farmers of the products.

He asked:“ We need a good traceability system where we know your farm and pack house but not a market where we cannot trace them to their origins adding that, the biggest question to ask is “what happens in the farm, are farmers applying the right quantity of fertiliser and other things needed for the proper growth of the vegetables?”

He said the Ministry of Food and Agriculture has resourced the Plant Protection and Regulatory Services Directorate (PPRSD) to enable it to carry out its duty of registering exporters, inspecting their farms and pack houses and carry out continuous monitoring.

He said the EU, which is Ghana’s major export market uses very sophisticated systems and carries out random sampling of products with scanners and this makes it very easy for them to detect and find the harmful pesticides on the vegetables.

Mr Quarcoo called for collaboration between the PPRSD, GEPA and other departments with the provision of certificates to facilitate the business.

He said in the past there used to be agriculture extension officers who liaise with farmers and inspect their farms to make sure farmers did the right but in recent times it is a pale shadow.

Mr Quarcoo said government is looking at the regulatory environment of the exports adding, there is the need for a programme of corrective action to restore the sector and raise its level in the face of the EU.

Ghana has more than 400 different products in the non-traditional sector like handicrafts among others including processed, semi processed goods and agricultural products.