Ghana’s government has imposed export restrictions on soyabeans and maize

The government has restricted the exportation of two important commodities, soya bean, and maize from the country.

This according to the Food and Agric Ministry, forms part of measures to ensure food security and increase local poultry and livestock production.

The Plant Protection and Regulatory Services Directorate (PPRSD), has stopped issuing phytosanitary certificates for the export of both commodities.

This follows a directive from the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MoTI) to restrict their export to ensure the availability of the product, whose production is subsidized.

The Press Secretary to the Food and Agriculture Minister, Issah Alhassan, spoke to Citi News about the decision.

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“Over the past two years, since the advent of Covid-19, we had to endure a lot of challenges so, in order to ensure that the local demand is met, there was the need to promulgate a law to ensure that any individual that wants to export soybeans from this country has to come for a permit.”

Apart from recent data from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) indicating the increasing cost of foodstuff, there have been concerns over a possible food shortage in Ghana.

The Ministry of Food and Agriculture has however downplayed these claims.