Two entities alleged to have attempted smuggling some bags of subsidized Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) fertilizers to neighboring Burkina Faso have seen their importation contracts terminated.
The fertilizers were for some Ghanaian farmers in Kassena-Nankana.
The affected companies are said to be behind the two trucks loaded with 4000 bags of subsidized fertilizers that were recently impounded at the Paga border in the Upper East Region, after a tipoff by an official at the border.
The affected companies reported by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), are Demeter and Intercontinental Ghana.
The Upper East Regional Minister, Paulina Abayage, who revealed this in an interview with DGN Online, said the 4000 bags of fertilizers were being kept under tight security and would soon be distributed free of charge to vulnerable groups and individuals across the region, so as to serve as deterrent to other importers and distributors who may want to smuggle subsidized fertilizers out of Ghana.
“There is someone claiming ownership, unfortunately the Agric Ministry does not have a contract with this person, but the two importers. So as I speak, the Ministry has abrogated the contracts it had with these two importers, because of what this supplier has done which is a breach of the contract with the ministry,” Madam Abayage said.
In June 2019, two articulated trucks loaded with 4000 bags of 25kg fertilizers meant for the Planting for Food and Jobs programme were impounded when they bypassed their supposed destination in Navrongo and headed for the Paga border probably to cross over to Burkina-Faso.
FROM: Ebo Bruce-Quansah, Bawku