Agro-input importers have urged the government, through the Ministry of Finance, to act quickly on their request for a special tax exemption on the importation of their goods so they can take a break from the lengthy process of clearing their cargo from the port.
The Program Manager of CropLife’s Ghana, Kadiri Rashad, is of the view that food security will unavoidably be impacted both in terms of pricing and product scarcity.
According to Rashad, member companies have hundreds of containers of agricultural inputs but are detained at the port as a result of the high taxes levied on their products.
“The sad thing about this is that while these goods are stuck at the ports, they are attracting high demurrages and other costs at the port. If this is not swiftly acted upon, it will be problematic. Some of our companies cannot even bear the potential extra cost and have already gone ahead to clear some of the goods at a higher cost.
Last year one of our companies cleared 15 containers of pesticides and the total tax amount was about GHc64,000. This year without the tax exemption, he is not even importing 15 containers, but 10, yet he is paying close to GHc442,000, ” He explained.
He said that although Owusu Afriyie Akoto, the past Minister for Food and Agriculture, had requested in writing on January 10 this year that an exemption be granted for these agricultural inputs—including fertilizers, pesticides, seeds, and livestock equipment, yet, that request has not been granted.
