The government has restricted the export of maize and soya beans as part of its measures to ensure food security in the country.
This action follows a directive from the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MoTI) to restrict their export to ensure the availability of the produce, whose production is subsidised.
According to a news report in Daily Graphic, the directive restricts Ghana’s export of the commodities to Niger, Sierra Leone, the Republic of Congo, the United Kingdom, the United States, Qatar, Italy and Canada.
A source at PPRSD said, “For us (PPRSD) since the directive came, it means that we cannot issue any certificate, but for the soya bean, an exporter needs to be cleared under L.I. 2432 before we can grant the exporter certification to export.”
According to the source, the directive was based on the fact that the country does not have enough of those commodities thus the reason for restriction of exports to other countries.
In addition, the source disclosed that PPRSD was committed, under its mandate, to organise, regulate, implement and coordinate the plant protection services needed for the country in support of the sustainable growth and development of agriculture.
Data shows that the export of soya beans are high thus contributing to shortage of the commodities.
For maize, data available has indicated that Ghana imports 200,000 tonnes of maize annually to augment the 3.2 million tonnes of local maize production yearly.
However, it has been revealed that stakeholders such as MoFA, MoTI, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development (MLGRD), the Ministry of Finance, the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA) and others, will soon meet to discuss how best to implement the export restriction.
Comments are closed.