CEPS officials, others attend workshop on anti-counterfeiting
Sixty officials drawn from the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Environment Protection Agency (EPA) and Plant Quarantine Officers stationed at the country’s border posts have completed a training on identifying and preventing illegal agrochemicals from entering the country.
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The one-day anti-counterfeiting sensitisation workshop, which was held in Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo Region, was organised by CropLife Ghana in association with the Chemical Control Management Centre (CCMC) of EPA.
The training emphasized the need for the identification of illegal agrochemicals and ways of preventing these chemicals to and from the country through the border posts.
‘Identify genuine and fake pesticides’
Lead facilitator at the workshop was Mr Frederick B. Boampong of CropLife Ghana, who oriented participants on ways of identifying a genuine pesticide from the counterfeit product and briefed them on activities of CropLife Ghana.
Part of the activities of CropLife AME, through CropLife Ghana Association, he said, was the provision of training to farmers, input dealers and the general public, including security institutions and the regulatory agencies.
Ghanaian farmers deprived
Mr Boampong decried the quantum of agri-inputs meant for Ghanaian farmers that were taken out of the country to neighbouring countries, thus depriving Ghanaian farmers of the required agri-inputs needed for effective agricultural production.
“We believe this workshop has come at the opportune time to salvage the situation”, he said and pleaded with the Customs and Plant Quarantine Officers manning the border posts to use all their skills to prevent both imports and exports of unapproved pesticides and fertilisers.
The Deputy Registrar of CCMC/EPA, Mr Joe Edmund, gave an assurance that the EPA would be embarking on regular swoops to apprehend culprits to sanitise the industry.
Mr Eric Dzimado of the Plant Protection & Regulatory Services Directorate of MoFA stressed the need for officers to be watchful over the frequent transportation of subsidised fertilisers across the borders to neighbouring countries. According to him, that situation prevents the targeted farmers in Ghana from accessing those inputs, thereby reducing government’s projected targets on agricultural yields.