Prof. Mike Oquaye
The Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Mike Oquaye, has directed the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to immediately issue a disclaimer on a purported fake pesticide that is being imported from China for cocoa farmers to use on their farms which could negatively affect the cash crop.
The directive was issued on Friday in parliament after a Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, Kennedy Nyarko Osei, appeared on the floor of parliament to answer an urgent question filed by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament for Juaboso, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, who wanted to find out from the ministry whether it is aware that the fake insecticide, One Litre (ILT) Rockstar, which has not been approved by the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG), is on the market being sold to farmers.
The deputy minister in answering the question said the ministry was aware and had tasked the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) to conduct investigations as regards the presence of the new Rockstar on the Ghanaian market purported to be fake and that the ministry was awaiting the report.
According to the deputy minister, Rockstar (Bifenthrin 2.5EC), is a registered pesticide in the country for the control of pests on cocoa farms.
He explained that the pesticide was originally imported from India by the West Africa Commodities Company Limited, tested by the CRIG and registered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) after which it was listed under provisional clearance licence for commercial purposes. The licence was given for a period of one year and must be renewed or fully registered thereafter.
He said after the expiration of the licence, the West Africa Commodities Company Limited in 2017 came back to the EPA with another sample of Rockstar insecticide but after testing by the CRIG it was discovered that the new pesticide was not the original one from India but from China and could therefore not be accepted to be the same.
“The CRIG through COCOBOD informed the ministry and the EPA, who are responsible for the registration and post registration surveillance of such pesticide, about the development”, he explained further.
The New Patriotic Party Member of Parliament for Effutu, Alex Afenyo-Markin, suggested to the House that Hon. Akandoh, who had brought the issue on the floor, be made to assist the ministry to find out where he got the new sample from, which is presumed to be fake so that they could be withdrawn from the market immediately.
By Thomas Fosu Jnr