Speech was silent on the quality of agric products, says Humado

Accra, Feb 16, GNA - Mr Kofi Humado, Member of Parliament for Anlo, on Wednesday said the President ignored quality status of Ghanaian agriculture products, a strong indicator of a successful export regime, in his address to the nation on February 3.

He said Ghanaian exports lose a lot on value due to poor quality standards, spoilage and other problems associated with shipping. The member, who was speaking on the motion to thank the President for the message on the State of the Nation, said Ghana, as member of the World Trade Organisation, could not be oblivious to new global trends in standardisation and trade.

He called for a legislative and regulatory framework for the certification of agriculture imports and exports. Mr Humado said Ghana risks isolation and contempt by the international community if it continues to rely on the present out dated regime.

The member said:" The nation's export diversification drive would suffer if nothing is done about our standards."

Mr Humado called on the government to support the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission in its bid to step up research into radiation that could help the standardisation process.

He said radiated foods and commodities are already on the Ghanaian market while little is being done to know how to measure the quality and risks on such goods.

On fishing, he asked that monitoring of large fishing vessels should be done in order to protect and enhance the livelihood of Ghana's coastal fisher folk.

"The large fishing vessels tear the nets, boats, fishing stock and the lives of our fishermen." On the deregulation of the petroleum sector, he said the process could not ensure price uniformity and suggested that alternative sources of energy like wind, solar and biogas be exploited to lessen the burden of the rural dweller and the small-scale farmer. 16 Feb 05