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Ghana bans vegetable exports to European Union

The ban which is on pepper, aubergines and gourd, follows an advice by the Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) of the European Commission.

Agric minister, Fiifi Kwetey

The Ministry of Food and Agriculture has with immediate effect placed a temporary ban on the exportation of vegetables to the European Union.

The advice was contained in an audit report presented to Ghana by the FVO, which said “Ghana stands the risk of a ban from the European Commission as a result of improper documentation for exports and presence of pest on produce.”

Speaking at a stakeholder’s conference in Accra on Wednesday, Agric minister, Fiifi Kwetey said the temporary ban is to streamline activities of the vegetable exporters and to make them adhere to the world standards.

He said in response to this advise, the ministry is issuing the following directives to be complied with henceforth;

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1. A temporary ban of exports of pepper, aubergines and gourd till all issues are addressed to drastically reduce the levels of interceptions by the Food and Veterinary Office, FVO of the European Commission.

2. The Plant Protection and Regulatory Services Directorate, PPRSD, will step up and inspect thorough inspection of produce, increase the sampling size and enforce and ban all exporters who will flout guidelines and regulations.

3. That the PPRSD inspects and registers farmers sourced by exporters to ensure that vegetables are sourced from farms with no history of false codling Moth infestation.

4. The PPRSD is to review and enforce laid down standard separating procedures for effective monitoring of the supply chain.

5. The PPRSD is to ban exporters of fresh vegetables not belonging to any registered associations recognized by PPRSD and sourcing from the unregistered farms.

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Fiifi Kwetey has however assured of close monitoring of these subgroups to ensure that all unscrupulous practices that might destroy Ghana's export sector are stopped.

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