Government has launched the Ghana Green Label farmer’s Manual, a training tool, to inform farmers on how to be green label certified.
It is a training tool for farmers and other actors in the value chain, whose work enhance or maintain the quality of the certified products.
The manual presents practical information for farmers and a guide for readers on the steps to follow to fulfill the requirement to attain compliance and certification.
The EU Trade Related Assistance and Quality Enabling (TRAQE) Programme funded the development and publication of 400 copies of the manual.
Through examples and illustrations, the manual helps to explain the terminologies under the certification scheme.
Dr Ahmed Yakubu Alhassan, Deputy Minister, Minsitry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) in charge of Crops, said the fruit and vegetable sector has in recent times suffered many setbacks after it demonstrated its potential as an important sector.
He said the unacceptable life threatening practices that some farmers engaged have made the majority of the food safety conscious consuming public to abstain from eating fruits and vegetables, when they are not sure of its sources.
The Deputy Minister said the horticulture export as well as the food export markets went through that phase and had succeeded in enforcing compliance to food safety standards and regulations to have market access.
He said in the last few years, the international markets rejected exports of selected Ghanaian vegetables containing quarantine pest.
He said the Green label certification scheme was government’s response to these growing consumer demands for safe food production in an environmentally sustainable and sound way.
He commended the originators of the certification scheme for giving consumers the opportunity to choose between an assured safe fruit and vegetable source.
Dr Alhassan said the EU through the TRAQE has once again demonstrated their commitment to the improvement of trade in Ghana.
Mr William Hanna, the EU Ambassador to Ghana, said the EU was confident that MOFA would continue to implement its action plans with the same plan of lifting the ban to enable farmers export to the EU market.
He said TRAQUE funded the development and publication of 400 copies of the manual, which is user-friendly and full of pictures and other illustrations.
“TRAQUE is also supporting the training activities for 400 farmers in seven different locations in Greater Accra and Eastern regions,” he added.
