A day after announcing a restriction on maize and soybean exports, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture confirmed allegations that it had allowed a 13.7 million dollar soybean export transaction.
According to recent media reports, the government has authorized five Ghanaian soybean-producing enterprises to export a recommended quantity of the product worth $13.7 million related to global needs from the foreign market. The Ministry’s determination to provide export permits to the five companies was based on the commodity’s surplus availability in Ghana.
These reports came just one day after the Ministry declared a ban on maize and soybean exports in order to protect Ghana’s food security.
However, the Ministry explained that the soybean export transaction came before the new ban on the exportation of the above mentioned crops.
Isaiah Alhassan the press secretary to the Minister of Food and Agriculture mentioned that “This news story was published before the ban was enacted. Before the ban took effect in January of this year, a committee was formed last year with representation from all stakeholders, including the GRA, MoTI, and MoFA. The committee’s job was to keep track of soybean production and make recommendations on whether to issue export deals. So, according to the Minister, before the restriction, this quantity of metric tonnes had been allowed for export, and this occurred before the prohibition.”
“So, if you look at yesterday’s news, which was an executive order, the President included both soybean and maize, which is different from what was already in place,” he further explained.