Agro-input dealers in the Northern Region have attended a day’s sensitisation forum on the safe and responsible use of pesticides and fertilizers to ensure healthy crops and to safeguard the environment.
They were also educated on how to identify counterfeit and illegal pesticides, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Act (Act 490), which is a legal framework for the control and effective management of pesticides and fertilizers in the country.
It was organised by Crop Life Ghana, a not-for-profit organisation, made up of importers, and distributors of pesticides and fertilizers in the country with a total membership of 24 companies, and supported by the EPA.
Mr Rashad Kadiri, Programme Manager, Crop Life Ghana, speaking at the forum in Tamale, said it was to help tackle issues of counterfeiting in the crop protection industry.
He said it also formed part of efforts to update participants on products’ registration and how to properly manage their businesses to enhance profitability and hel
p eliminate issues of illegal pesticides on the markets in the country.
He appealed to agro-input dealers in the country to prioritise securing certificates and licenses for their business to enable them to deal in genuine and regulated products.
Mr Joseph Edmund, who is from the Chemicals Control and Management Centre of EPA, spoke on how to identify fake pesticides and said such products were often not registered, did not have certification, and had bad labels and ineligible texts, which were often in foreign languages.
He added that such products did not also have critical information such as manufacturers’ and distributors’ addresses expiry dates and batch numbers.
He said as of December last year, the EPA registered and approved about 1,070 pesticides for use in the country, whilst 32 fake pesticides were banned from the market.
He called for strong collaboration between the EPA and all stakeholders in the sector to help in the fight to rid the market of illegal pesticides.
Source: Ghana News Agen
cy