UWR Coordinating Council develops measures to curtail fertilizers smuggling

Wa, May 25, GNA - Henceforth government's accredited companies supplying fertilizers to the Upper West Region under the 'Fertilizer Subsidy Programme' would have to submit invoices accompanying the fertilizers to the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) for inspection.

Similarly, copies of invoices must also be provided to the various district assemblies upon delivery of fertilizers for examination.

Those were measures among others taken at stakeholders meeting in Wa to help reduce the smuggling of fertilizers to neighbouring countries in recent times.

The RCC initiated the meeting at the request of Mr. Sulemana Alhassan, Upper West Regional Minister, to launch a campaign against the smuggling of fertilizers and farm inputs across neighbouring countries.

District Chief Executives, District Directors of Food and Agriculture, fertilizer and input dealers, Fertilizer distributors and agents of fertilizers supplying companies attended the meeting and fashioned out those measures to help address the ramifications on the distribution systems of the commodity to reduce smuggling.

Addressing the stakeholders, Mr. Alhassan charged the Food and Agriculture Officials and the security agencies manning Ghana's borders in the region to protect the interest of farmers and government by monitoring and carrying out checks on invoices to ensure that the right quantities of fertilizers were brought in for distribution to farmers.

District Assemblies should also engage agents to monitor and record all daily sales of fertilizers and report to the Regional Coordinating Council to ensure that the programme was beneficial to the farmers.

Mr. Alhassan said the Upper West, Upper East and Northern Regions had gained notoriety of smuggling of fertilizers across neighbouring countries to the detriment farmers.

He said the farming season had started and reports were widespread that fertilizers were being smuggled outside the borders.

Government was subsidising fertilizers to encourage more farmers to expand their farms and boost crop yields to make Ghana food sufficient.

He pleaded with stakeholders in the fertilizer business to stop smuggling but make sure that the commodity got to the farmers, whose interest the government was protecting.

Mr. Alhassan warned that any public officer who shunned his or her responsibility and allow fertilizers and other farm inputs to be smuggled out to other countries would be considered not a 'friend of the state but a saboteur'.

He said because of individual selfish motives and unpatriotic behaviours, Ghana had been importing vegetables from Burkina Faso even though Ghana is more endowed with arable land and favourable environment and climatic conditions than Burkina Faso.

'All those who have the habits of smuggling should bury them. What would you gain if in the entire community, you are the only rich person,' he asked.

Mr. Amidu Chinnia Issahaku, Deputy Upper West Regional Minister, said agriculture was the mainstay of the people in the Region.

He said if government should therefore come out with a programme to boost agricultural production, it was only fair for all citizens in the Region to embrace it but not for some people to thwart it through smuggling.

'We are not seeing the impact of fertilizers distribution among farmers in the communities and there is the need to develop appropriate measures to ensure that we get the fertilizers to the farmers.

'Remember that if you are so rich and many people are poor, the poor becomes a threat to you', he said.

The Antika Company limited which products are the Yara fertilizers are the most preferred choice of farmers in the Region.

However, the company has been given a lesser quota of 10, 000 tonnes of the commodity representing 36,220 bags of the fertilizers to be supplied to farmers in the Region.

So far, 25,150 bags of Yara fertilizers had been delivered and distributed to the farmers, yet many farmers are complaining that the fertilizers had not reached them.

Some companies were bringing fertilizers to the Region but patronage of those fertilizers among farmers was poor because farmers doubted the quality and efficacy of the fertilizers to their crops.

Of the 11 accredited company detailed to supply fertilizers to the Upper West Region, only the Antika Company Limited had brought in its share of fertilizer consignments to the Region.

GNA

By Bajin D. Pobia, GNA