Summary
After announcing a blanket ban on exports of leafy vegetables to the EU at the end of May to avert a possible EU import ban, the government of Ghana is gradually relaxing the ban as exporters and farmers prove compliance with export requirements. This is a slow process with the credibility of this approach hinging around being able to demonstrate that the current approach adopted by the Ghanaian PPRSD works in practice in enhancing the SPS compliance of Ghanaian exports of the products in question
At the beginning of July 2019 the Government of Ghana announced the lifting of the voluntary export embargo on specified vegetable exports from producers who had satisfactorily met the production requirements for export to the EU set out by the Plant Protection and Regulatory Services Directorate (PPRSD) of the Ghanaian Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA).
This voluntary ban had been introduced at the end of May 2019 in response to fears the level of pest infestations (particularly but not exclusively for false codling moth) could give rise to an EU ban (see companion epamonitoring.net article ‘Ghanaian Pre-emptive Export Ban on Chilli Peppers, Aubergines and other Leafy Vegetables May Be Just the Beginning’, 8 July 2019) (1). The Ghanaian government maintained the move was ‘necessary to address all possible loopholes and challenges resulting from an earlier ban imposed by the European Union‘ (2). The Project Manager of HortiFresh, Sheila Assibey-Yeboah described the governments’ pre-emptive ban on local vegetable exportation to the EU as a blessing in disguise.
She said, “We are back up, and we are picking it up again, it really affected the industry but then it was a blessing in disguise, of course, with hindsight you get to appreciate some of the bad things that happen and Ghana was able to improve upon their systems and were able to coordinate all activities and get things back again to stay competitive.” The announcement of the lifting of the ban covered 5 Ghanaian vegetable exporting businesses and restricted the sourcing of chillies, turia and garden eggs to 13 out of 70 farms subject to PPRSD inspection requirements (1).
This needs to be seen against the background of claims by the Spanish agricultural producers’ organisation ASAJA Malaga that in 2018 ‘the number of interceptions of harmful organisms in the EU grew by 15.9% compared to the previous years’, with Ghana being amongst the 7 top sources of interceptions (alongside fellow ACP member Nigerian Dominican Republic and Surinam). However this headline was somewhat misleading. The number of interception increased by 15.9%, but these interceptions were due to a variety of factors including:
- Administrative errors such as a lack of phytosanitary certificates (2,994 or 34.3%) and non-conforming phytosanitary certificates (1,585 or 18.2%);
- Inadequate treatment of wooden packaging material and other objects (2,279 or 26.1%);
- Presence of harmful organisms: 1,712 (19.6%).
In fact there was only a 4.5% increase in interceptions caused by the presence of harmful organisms compared to the previous year (3). This should come as little surprise, given the extension of the scope of the definition of harmful organisms which occurred at the beginning of 2018.
| Comment and Analysis The move over to more targeted restrictions on exports can be seen as a government response to calls from the Vegetable Producers and Exporters Association of Ghana for more selective, targeted measures which would allow the focus of government regulatory controls on the worst offenders. By opening up export opportunities solely to businesses who fully comply with export requirements, the Ghanaian government is effectively incentivising compliance with regulatory requirements. It remains to be seen whether the PPRSD can hold the line in only granting export approvals when all necessary export standards have been met and ensuring that approved producers and exporters continue to meet the required standards over time. The success achieved by the Ghanaian governments approach may well have a bearing on whether in the coming months the EU resorts to a blanket import ban on leafy vegetables from Ghana. This suggests a need for the establishment of company by company surveillance of interceptions of pests by EU border control authorities. This would greatly facilitate the targeted deployment of enforcement efforts by the PPRSD, whose personnel are likely to be severely overstretched in the coming period. Attaining a more detailed understanding of what is actually happening in regard to EU border interceptions of Ghanaian products on SPS grounds would appear to be essential given mounting EU producer pressure for the more rigorous enforcement of new EU Plant Health Controls which are due to fully come into effect on 13th December 2019. The Ghanaian authorities are going to need to counter these pressures through the provision of accurate information on trends and developments in the effectiveness of Ghanaian pest management strategies. |
Source:
(1) graphic.com.gh, ‘Five firms allowed to resume vegetable exports’, 9 July 2019
https://www.freshplaza.com/article/9125012/ghana-five-firms-allowed-to-resume-vegetable-exports/
(2) pulse.com.gh ,‘Government of Ghana lifts ban on the exportation of leafy vegetables to the international markets’, 4 July 2019
https://www.pulse.com.gh/bi/strategy/government-of-ghana-lifts-ban-on-the-exportation-of-leafy-vegetables-to-the/0vvmj7t
(3) diariosur.es, ‘16% increase in number of interceptions of harmful organisms in the EU’, 16 August 2019
https://www.freshplaza.com/article/9134067/16-increase-in-number-of-interceptions-of-harmful-organisms-in-the-eu/