THE EXPORT of Capsicum, Solanum, luffa and all leafy vegetables has been suspended indefinitely from the list of exportable commodities from Ghana to any international market.
The Plant Protection and Regulatory Services Directorate of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, announced the suspension, citing a number of reasons.
In a statement signed by its Director, Dr. Felicia Ansah-Amprofi, the Plant Protection and Regulatory Services Directorate indicated that the suspension has become necessary due to “the high level of local interceptions at the exit points; the alarming rate of external notifications, and the new EU directives to all countries to re-provide dossiers to the EU on the management of harmful organisms on some of the above vegetables.”
Ghana recently came out of a ban “and as such we are still on the red list and being monitored closely,” the statement noted.
It added that “we are only five months into the second year, the number of notifications is increasing, and if we are not careful the European Union will ban Ghana.”
It noted that “last year internal interceptions by our officers amounted to 162 while external notifications were 53 due to harmful organisms.”
According to the statement, “from the beginning of this year 2019 to date (23/05/2019), internal interceptions by our officers has risen to 120 and 20 for external notifications.”
