The government has placed prohibitions on the export of maize and soya beans, two key commodities in the poultry industry. This is part of a broader plan to boost local poultry and cattle production while also ensuring food security.
The Plant Protection and Regulatory Services Directorate (PPRSD) has since halted granting phytosanitary certificates for both commodities’ export. This is in response to a mandate from the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MoTI) to limit their exportation to ensure the availability of subsidised commodities.
The directive from MoTI meant that the directorate could no longer issue new certificates.
The directive was based on the fact that the government lacked sufficient quantities of those items, preventing it from exporting them.
Ghana’s export of the commodities is restricted to Niger, Sierra Leone, the Republic of Congo, the United Kingdom, Qatar, the United States, Italy, and Canada under the directive.
The PPRSD, which is part of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, certifies agricultural exports in minor and big amounts.
A seven-member Soya Bean Export Permit Committee, which operates as a regulatory task force, administers the Export and Import – Restrictions on Exportation of Soya Bean, Regulation 2020 (L.I. 2432).
In January of this year, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo issued Executive clearance for a temporary ban on maize and soya bean exports.
As a result, stakeholders including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Trade and Industry, 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 convene soon to discuss how to best implement the export constraint.
The conversations will also concentrate on how to boost production, curb smuggling, and other commodities-related challenges.
The government cannot impose an explicit or direct ban on the commodities due to the ECOWAS Protocol on the free movement of people and products, but can only restrict their movement. It hopes to persuade them to stay within its borders.
Anthony Morrison, the CEO of the Chamber of Agribusiness Ghana (CAG), stated that Burkina Faso and other West African countries have already banned the export of certain goods since last year and that Ghana was long overdue to follow suit.
According to market intelligence provided by the CAG, nearly half of the commodities are being held in reserve by some organizers away from the market in order to smuggle them out of the country later.
As a result, Mr Morrison has proposed forming a bipartisan national security committee comprised of all key parties to assist in the execution of policies such as the commodity restrictions.