CropLife Ghana, an association of Ghanaian importers and distributors of pesticides, fertilizers, and other agriculture inputs, has called on the Ministry of Finance to, as a matter of urgency, grant the tax exemptions for the importation of pesticides as captured in the 2024 budget.

The grant of the tax exemptions, according to the association, must be done as soon as possible if the government finds food security to be a national priority.

The Executive Council of CropLife Ghana said the government in recognizing the important role of the availability of agriculture machinery and inputs to the success of the second phase of Planting for Food and Jobs announced the tax exemptions in the 2024 budget.

The council said it was however extremely concerned about the delays by the finance ministry in granting the taxes, noting that this posture "has dire consequences for the agriculture sector."

Program Manager at CropLife Ghana, Kadiri Rashad told journalists in Tamale on Thursday that members of the association either had their products currently locked up at the harbours because they could not pay to clear them or barely managed to clear them at exorbitant costs.

This he said could push the cost of inputs above the weight of the ordinary farmer, ahead of the farming season.

"While we await the finance ministry to implement the tax exemptions through the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), members of CropLife Ghana, and other service providers have their pesticides and fertilizers locked up in the ports due to exorbitant charges slapped on them by way of import duty. Others have gone ahead to clear their stocks at very high cost to include demurrages which will further push the cost of inputs above the weight of an ordinary farmer," he said.

"There are several importers who are unwilling to make any shipment due to this development and farmers are already experiencing shortages in one way or the other," he added.