The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) has placed a temporal ban on the distribution of fertilizers under government’s ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’ Programme in four municipal and district assemblies in the Upper East Region.
The affected areas are; Bawku municipality, Garu, Pusiga and Tempane districts.
Upper East Regional Minister, Paulina Patience Abayage said the proximity of these districts to neighboring countries has made it possible for some individuals to smuggle fertilizers out of Ghana.
“The reports we are getting is that, sometimes we don’t even know where the fertilizers are offloaded and they carry them in smaller portions across the country through to Burkina Faso and Togo. We have intelligence to that effect”, she revealed.
The minister who spoke exclusively to A1 News said the temporal ban will not affect the policy in the affected areas.
“If farmers in these districts need fertilizer to buy, they can go to Binduri or Zebilla districts to buy. The ban is not permanent. I am sure that, in the next couple of days we will be able to review if not all, some of the places”, Madam Abayage indicated.
This temporal ban comes after two trucks were impounded in the region trying to smuggled fertilizers to neighboring Burkina Faso.
The minister said the impounded fertilizers are safely stored for distribution to vulnerable farmers.
Source:A1radioonline.com|Joshua Asaah
