Ghana Assorted Foodstuff Exporters advocate for a single corridor pack-house
The Ghana Assorted Foodstuff Exporters Association (GAFEA) last Thursday organized a stakeholders forum in Accra under the auspices of the Business Sector Advocacy Challenge (BUSAC) Fund.
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In setting the agenda for the programme, Council Member of Ghana, Mr. Kwame Antwi-Boasiako indicated that GAFEA is seeking to build consensus among all stake holders in defining the way forward.
Antwi-Boasiako also added that another expectation of the forum is to constitute a committee that is adequately representative of the assorted foodstuff export industry in Ghana.
According to Mr. Aggrey, GAFEA was established with the broad goal of advocating for policy and strategic infrastructural interventions for enhancing the business viability of the Ghanaian food export enterprises.
This was to be done through product development and marketing as well as food safety improvement by working closely with all relevant duty bearers in the industry.
Currently, GAFEA members are said to be exporting over forty (40) different foodstuffs from Ghana which include edible palm oil, yams, plantain, gari (roasted cassava grit), fermented corn and cassava dough, canned palm soup, rice flour, cowpea and corn grit.
Mr. Aggrey stated that globally, evidence abounds to show that the use of single corridor pack houses for assorted foodstuffs exports has facilitated the growth and development of the export of foodstuff from such countries.
“Pack-houses have helped to harmonize and synchronise the work of state inspectorate agencies in a manner that eliminates costs and facilitates compliance with international food safety standards as well as best practices in the handling of foodstuff for both the local and international export markets”.
Mr Aggrey explained that the current manner in which assorted foodstuffs and vegetables are inspected and cleared before they can be exported from Ghana is flawed by the lack of harmonization and co-ordination of the roles of the institutions mandated to oversee these inspections and clearance.
According to him, uncoordinated processes eventually result in massive financial losses to exporters of assorted foods from Ghana.
