EU To Help Ghanaian Farmers
The European Union (EU) ambassador to Ghana, William Hanna, in a recent interaction with journalists, said the Commission was ready to support Ghana to produce quality agricultural products to meet the quality standards of UE countries.
The ambassador, who explained that the EU has been involved with several countries, including Holland and Germany, has been working on programmes to provide technical assistance needed to make vegetables safe for consumption.
He said “it is simple and can be done, but we need everybody to realise that quality is important and it is one of the aspects of the programme we have been advocating in Ghana for a number of years”.
“If the quality is good, if the quality is improved, everybody benefits. There could be assistance for farmers to ensure that their goods are produced and are protected” from contamination and chemical residue.
Agricultural exports from Ghana have been banned on different occasions by the EU in past years. In September this year the Ministry of Agriculture placed a ban on some vegetable exports to the European Union market. The EU, also, recently lifted a ban on Ghana’s fisheries.
Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA) lauded the move and said it was a wakeup call to the nation and for all exporters to make sure they go through the right processes before getting their products exported.
GEPA estimates that 2.5 billion dollars was made from non-traditional exports last year and expects to reach five billion dollars in 2019 through increase in exports.
