Mr Fiifi Kwetey, the Minister of Food and Agriculture, on Wednesday received the GhanaVeg First Business Opportunity Report from Mr Hans Docter, the Netherlands Ambassador to Ghana at the Fourth GhanaVeg Business Platform Meeting in Accra.
GhanaVeg is an initiative supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands which aims at enhancing commercial agriculture in Ghana.
Its maiden report highlights opportunities in Ghana’s vegetable, exports, sanitary and phytosanitary issues and greenhouse technology.
GhanaVeg’s mission is to establish a sustainable and internationally competitive vegetable sector that contributes to inclusive economic growth and has the capacity to continuously innovate in terms of the products and services.
GhanaVeg is driven by a strong belief in healthy and quality vegetables from Ghana through new ways of doing business.
The initiative targets the high-end domestic and international markets such as high end supermarkets, hotels, restaurants and exports.
Mr Kwetey lauded the Dutch Government for the GhanaVeg Programme and the maiden report, stating that government would study the report carefully and would make good use of its findings and recommendations.
He said the nation stood to benefit from the Netherlands success story in horticulture and vegetable industries.
He said there was the need for vegetable growers in the country to comply with international standards in the production, packaging and processing of vegetables.
Mr Docter said the report would contribute to promote the production of vegetables in Ghana that would meet international standards.
He said his country is the leading country in greenhouse horticulture and vegetable exports globally which gives the opportunity to both countries to grow together in this field.
Major bottlenecks and causes for non-compliance to sanitary and pytosanitory standards have been identified, and the 44 paged report proposes practical and innovative ways to improve food safety and plant health in vegetable claims.
According to the Ambassador, the Netherlands Embassy through GhanaVeg could support companies who want to do “things differently”, investing in certification, introducing new crop varieties and improving the quality of vegetables in retail sector.
The Netherlands supports the system of digital phyto certification and would support the phytosanitory inspection office at the airport.
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