The General Secretary of Ghana Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU), Mr. Edward Kareweh has said that if the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) goes ahead with its intent to buy large amount of pork from the United States of America will collapse the local industry.
Mr. Kareweh made this observation during an exclusive interview with Tema-Community 2 base Plan-B FM on the radio station’s current affair show, ‘Ebaanosen’. He told the host of the show, Ohene Kinnah that it will be wrong for the Ministry to even consider that idea and added that the worst part of whole idea was when the ministry failed to consult local stakeholders.
Media reports had earlier mentioned that MoFA is withholding specific information on a recent agreement to buy large amount of pork from the United States; a situation which has seen stakeholders in the domestic industry threatened to seek legal redress in a law court which will seek to completely block the importation of pork products across board.
The report continued that the Chamber of Agribusiness Ghana (CAG) and the National Pig Farmers Association (NPFA), two of the stakeholder civil society organization (CSOs), have claimed that the MoFA is obstructing their efforts to access comprehensive information and records on the deal.
Making further comment on the current state of the intended deal, Mr. Kareweh noted that the lack of consultation, detail information and documents on the agreement that was reportedly signed between government and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is creating panic among domestic pig farmers, feed producers and key sector stakeholders.
Continuing he said he was not surprised that various domestic stakeholders were threatening to sue the government agency over the deal. “The government must take a second look at the issue closely because if implemented, the deal would have a dire consequences on the local industry. It is already a struggling industry which needs the support of all including that of the government”, Mr. Kareweh remarked.
Answering a question on what the way forward is for the domestic stakeholders, Mr. Kareweh noted that they should ensure that they push for a dialogue with MoFA over the deal where they will spell out the impact of the deal on the domestic industry if implemented. He supports the idea of CAG and the NPFA planning to roll out a legal action and a petition to the International Trade Commission of Ghana, the Ministry of Trade and Industry and other relevant bodies in the coming days.
He commented that this would pave way for a closer look at the grievances of the domestic stakeholders by the state agencies with mandate to regulate activities within the agriculture space. “The truth is that if MoFA goes ahead with its plan to import large scale of pork products from the United States it will cripple the domestic industry and it would also go a long way to pay way for Ghana to become a dumping site for the United States of America for its pork products. When this happens Ghana would have been receiving low standard of pork products from the United States. They have more than they consume so their excess would be dumped on Ghana”, the GAWU General Secretary said.
Concluding he disagreed with the MoFA’s deal with the USDA and added that it will collapse the domestic industry.
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