The Oil Palm Development Association of Ghana (OPDAG) has locked horns with the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) over the 50 percent benchmark policy introduced by the government to reduce duties on imported goods, saying, the latter is influencing the government not to exempt vegetable oils from the policy.

According to the association, the policy has created a very unfair competitive environment for the local oil palm industry, as importers are able to sell their products cheaper than those produced locally, hence, its call for the scrapping of the policy on vegetable oils.

For example, the producer association said, the cost of a 25-liter jerrycan of vegetable oil is produced locally at GH¢260 ex-factory price and sold on the market for GH¢265 inclusive of the duty, levies, VAT, and logistics. But with the 50 percent benchmark policy, imported vegetable oils leave the port at GH¢230 and are sold to traders at GH¢255 for onward selling on the market at GH¢260.

Speaking to the B&FT in an interview, the Executive Secretary of OPDAG, Selorm Quame, said the government is willing to exempt vegetable oil importation from the policy but GUTA is using its influence to threaten the government to deter it from reviewing the policy in favour of the local oil palm industry.

“The leadership of GUTA is spreading falsehood to deter the government from reviewing the policy. Since the introduction of the policy in 2019, the impact is adversely affecting the local palm oil industry. The local refineries and manufacturing industries are no longer viable to operate and the concomitant effect is downstream of the values chain which comprises the growers of oil palm – small and large are losing their livelihoods as they cannot sell their fruits sooner rather than later.

The refineries are unable to sell their products competitively against imported vegetable oil which has become cheaper as a result of the effect of the above policy which in essence has subsidized the imports to the disadvantage of local producers,” he said.

He further bemoaned the impact of the policy on jobs lost to the local industry, saying: “GUTA, is not actually fighting for traders but a handful of importers who are making huge profits while Ghanaians are at the risk of losing jobs and subsequently livelihoods at the downstream where hundreds of thousands of rural smallholder/out-grower farmers operate.

The sector is experiencing job and income losses especially in rural areas where local mills and smallholder farmers are actively engaged in the oil palm value chain. A mill that had 500 employees has downsized to 250 employees as at the beginning of 2021,” he added.

He again added that, besides thousands of jobs that are at risk, government programmes such as Planting for Export and Rural Development (PERD) and the objectives of the Tree Crops Development Authority are in danger of missing the purpose for which they were created.

The association is, therefore, pleading with the government not to succumb to threats from GUTA, but to review the policy to save the local oil palm industry.

“We the Oil Palm Development Association of Ghana (OPDAG), being the entire palm oil value chain actors in Ghana, are pleading with the government to review the 50 percent reduction benchmark policy by exempting palm oil from the application of the policy. We are not advocating complete abolition of the policy as being portrayed by Ghana Union of Traders Association,” Mr. Quame said.

Public Senior High Schools (SHSs) across the country risk closure over food shortage, GhanaXtra.Com can report authoritatively.

Most of the schools have run out of essential food items such as sugar, rice, maize, milk, cooking oil, flour, and sardines and have been forced to devise means of feeding the students.

Credible information available to this portal indicates that many of the schools have been forced to rely on only beans-related foods for supper and lunch and have also been providing breakfast without the mandatory bread.

The situation if not salvaged in the coming days will bring academic activities in the schools to a standstill as authorities will be compelled to send students home.

A source that spoke to GhanaXtra.Com on condition of strict anonymity revealed that despite assurances from the National Buffer Stock, the schools are yet to receive deliveries making it difficult for management.

“As I speak to you, my school has run out of many food items. It is not easy at all but what we hear is assurances from the authorities but they have delivered on their promise”.

A Headmaster (name withheld) in the Eastern Region decries the current situation by describing it as dire.

According to him, feeding the students has now become a major headache for heads of Senior High Schools and urged authorities to intervene.

Meanwhile, independent checks by this portal indicate suppliers have refused to supply foodstuffs as they have not been paid since January.

The Free Senior High School (Free SHS) Policy was a government initiative introduced in September 2017. The policy’s origination began as part of the President’s presidential campaign during Ghana’s 2016 election period and has become an essential part of Ghana’s educational system.

To empower the women’s groups in the Asene Manso Akroso District, the Department of Agriculture has organized an off-farm training programme for women in Akim Asene.

The participants for the one-day training, are from Peace Palm Oil Processing Women Group, Moral Entrepreneurial Group among others, were trained on liquid soap making.

Mr. Samuel Adu, Officer of Women In Agriculture Development (WIAD), in the district, said off-farm activity is any activity undertaken by a farmer outside farming as an additional source of income.

He said the skill acquired is regarded as a source of livelihood for farm households, and as a means to diversify household income sources.

Mr. Zakaria Birikorang, the facilitator for the training, took participants through stages in liquid soap making, ingredients used, and proper packaging for sales.

He advised them not to start their trades with a huge amount of money, but as low as 40 Ghana cedis.

Madam Elizabeth Kwakye, a member of Moral Entrepreneurial Group, a food processing group at Akim Asene, thanked the Agriculture Department, for the off-farm training and said it is also an income diversification strategy.

WIAD under the Ministry of Food and Agriculture is a highly competent public institution transforming livelihoods and promoting the wellbeing of especially women, in the Agricultural sector.

GNA