Customs blames clearing agents for delays

Sixty officers from the Customs Division of Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Ghana Immigration Services have undergone a day’s training at Ho, the Volta Regional capital.

The training was to enhance the knowledge and skills of officers to enable them efficiently minimize the importation of counterfeit and illegal agrochemicals into the country.

The training focused on some of the current issues faced by the agrochemical industry in the detection of counterfeit products.

Officers from the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) also participated in the training workshop.

The training was organized by CropLifeAME through CropLife Ghana in collaboration with the Chemical Control Management Centre (CCMC) of EPA.

Topics discussed included Overview of Legal Framework for Management of Pesticides, Pesticides (Definitions, Toxicity and Use Safety), Introduction to EPA GCNet Clearance Procedures, Identifying a genuine/legitimate agrochemical and counterfeit agrochemical/fertilizers and illegal agrochemical product.

Facilitators at the workshop were Frederick B. Boampong, Program Manager of CropLife Ghana and Joseph Edmund, Deputy Director of CCMC-EPA.

Speaking in an interview with the press after the workshop, Frederick B. Boampong reiterated that CropLife Ghana aims to support farmers, input-dealers and the general public, including security agencies and the regulatory agencies.

“As a plant science industry, we are committed to promoting practices that encourage responsible, safe and efficient use of products and also to sensitize stakeholders on current issues being tackled by the agrochemical industry to minimize issues of counterfeiting, especially along the border towns of Ghana,” he said, emphasizing that the organization of such workshop would effectively safeguard the industry.