The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) says it has identified six regions across the country as hot spots for fertilizer smuggling.
The regions include Upper East, Upper West, North East, Northern and Volta Regions.
In the Upper West Region the districts are, Sissali East, Sissali West, Nandom, Lawra, Lambusie and Nadowli -Kaleo District.
The Director at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Dr Solomon Gyan Ansah, revealed this in an interview with A1 Radio Upper West correspondent Dennis Bebane in Wa.
To curb the smuggling, Dr. Ansah said the Ministry has adopted new measures to help fight the smuggling of the subsidized fertilizers.
He said as part of the new measures, only ten agents have been given approval in the six districts and was quick to add that, the ministry has decided to assign personnel under the Nation Builders Corps (NaBCo) to all the retailers and agric input dealers to ensure that they concentrate on their core mandates.
All fertilizer bags under the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) programme are to be uniquely labeled to differentiate them from ordinary fertilizer bags on the market.
The agric input dealers, who have been registered to supply the fertilizers in the region, would also be expected to report the quantity of fertilizers they have brought into the region to the regional minister.
They would also be required to show proof of the quantity with their waybills as well as give directions to where the fertilizers are to be stored.
He was hopeful that the new distribution channel would help in curbing the smuggling of the subsidized fertilizer because the single source can easily be monitored and checked.
Dr Ansah stressed that officials will soon be distributing the fertilizers to registered farmers under the Planting for Food and Jobs and urged farmers to take advantage of the programme.
He urged Ghanaians to report any information on fertilizer smuggling to the nearest police post.
Source: A1Radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Dennis Bebane| Ghana
