Stakeholders demand levy on imported pesticides

Stakeholders have called for an amendment of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 1994 Act (Act 490) to allow for imported pesticides to be levied.

The call is being spearheaded by Crop Life Ghana, and other players, including local importers, and the Ghana Agri-Input Dealers Association (GAIDA),

According to them, the move would bring sanity in the industry and curb the infiltration of inferior products into the market.

The advocacy for the levy system, which is being sponsored by the Business Sector Advocacy Challenge (BUSAC) Fund, is also supported by the Plant Protection and Regulatory Services Directorate (PPRSD)of the Ministry of Agriculture (MoFA) and EPA.

Speaking at a stakeholder engagement on the levy system in Accra on Friday, William Kotey, the president and chairman of Crop Life Ghana, said, the levy system would “help support regulators to make the industry disciplined, and minimise the incidence of poor quality products in the industry.”

The Programme Manager for Crop Life Ghana, Frederick Brandford Boampong, said, with a review of Act 490, and the advocacy by the stakeholders, the trust of farmers would be won in the agrichemical sector.

“With an amendment of the law, importers will pay levy which will ensure that quality products are available, and also help mitigate against government Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies threat of banning pesticides importation,” Mr Boampong said.

Addressing issues of amendment, the Acting Legal Director of the EPA, Kingsley Ekow Gura-Sey noted that, a reviewed Act had been presented to and approved by the Attorney General, waiting to be laid before parliament.

Mr Ebenezer Tei, a consultant for the BUSAC Fund, and a monitoring officer for the advocacy for the levy system explained to the Ghanaians Times that, following receipt and analysis of the concept paper for the project, it found it worthy to sponsor.

“We received applications from a range of associations of which Crop Life was one. From the concept note, we found that it is a good project, and because, advocacy pushes duty bearers to perform, we are supporting it,” Mr Tei said.

“We are supporting the association to drive the advocacy project to its end,” he told the paper.