Low prices of food crops in Techiman
Home Finance Company gains push All-Share index up
CEPS refusal to attend berthing meetings creates problem
Northerners prefer locally reared chicken
Techiman (Brong Ahafo) 04 July 2001
Farmers in the Techiman District are complaining about poor returns on their investment as a result of low prices of their produce.
Mr Kweku Minka-Fordjour, District Director of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), told the Ghana News Agency in an interview that the prices of items like tomato and groundnuts have fallen so low that "farmers cannot even recover their production cost, let alone to make profit".
He said if nothing was done to reverse the perennial problem it would discourage farmers from increasing production.
Mr Minka-Fordjour said as an interim measure, tomato growers could make use of the tomato factory at Tuobodom and hoped that more of such factories would be sited in the region to process the excess. Groundnut farmers could also dry and store to attract a higher price.
He advised the farmers to diversify into the production of other crops so that they do not over-produce to create a glut, which causes the fall in prices.
He said the price of fresh yams is relatively high as a result of their export to the European markets and this would continue to be so till mid-August when production reaches its peak.
GRi../
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Accra (Greater Accra) 04 July 2001
Home Finance Company (HFC) made a two-cedi gain to push the GSE All-Share Index, the key gauge of the Accra bourse, up a slim 0.06 points.
The index opened the week up marginally at 932.53 points compared to Friday's finish of 932.47 points under heavy bearish sentiments.
Traded volumes were a low of 18,500 shares from a high of 3.6 million shares last week when there was a bulk trade in Guinness Ghana Limited shares.
The only price gain for the day stood in the name of HFC, which made two cedis to close up at 952 cedis. The remaining 21 equities had no change.
The change for the year to date now stands at 8.69 per cent.
Market capitalisation went up slightly at 3,785.38 billion cedis from 3,785.26 billion cedis at the previous close on Friday.
The following are the last prices of listed equities in cedis:
ABL 630
AGC 18,500
ALW 12,001
BAT 550
CFAO 60
EIC 2,890
FML 800
GBL 1,300
GCB 1,600
GGL 900
HFC 952 +2
MGL 240
MLC 130
MOGL 19,400
PAF 350
PBC 450
PZ 640
SCB 21,000
SPPC 306
SSB 2,300
UNIL 1,800
CMLT 425
GRi../
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Tema (Greater Accra) 04 July 2001
Shipping Agents at the Tema Port have complained about the blatant refusal of Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) to attend berthing meetings where the arrival of ships are announced.
The Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) that chairs the meetings, said institutions that were obliged to attend the meetings alongside other stakeholders include Port Health, Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) and CEPS.
The meeting gives information about ships that would be arriving at the port and is held at 10:00 hours from Monday to Friday. It also allocates berths for ships and announces the time of arrival.
GPHA officials explained to the Ghana News Agency that all institutions that attend the meetings have different roles to play, when a ship berths at the port.
They get on board to find out the cargo the ship is carrying to ensure that it does not bring in any dangerous item.
It was discovered from the berthing meetings record book that it was only the representatives of CEPS that were not regular at such meetings, even though, it was an obligation.
CEPS expect shipping agents to call at their offices before they would carry out their inspection.
The Agents were, however, of the view that since CEPS have a preventive section, it was their duty to ensure that they were fully represented so that they could stop or prevent any dangerous goods including arms and ammunition from coming into the country, adding all institutions that should attend berthing meetings have their vital roles to play to save the country.
The Agents said even though CEPS knows about the arrival of ships, they drag their feet or sometimes refuse to give clearance to ships, which have completed discharging their goods or assignments to sail off.
When Agents apply for clearance, CEPS then begin to initiate investigations to find out when the ship entered the port or dry-dock and whether she had brought in any dangerous goods.
The Agents referred to a situation where CEPS Assistant Commissioner at the Long Room caused the seizure of an Iranian Ship, M/V Iran Ershed, which came to Tema PSC Shipyard in an emergency situation to dry-dock from June 4.
The arrival of M/V Iran Ershed from Douala, Cameroon, to the Tema Dry-Dock was announced at an earlier berthing meeting and ship's arrival schedule was distributed to institutions, however, when the she arrived at the Dry-Dock on June 4, all stakeholders and institutions like Port Health, GIS and GPHA were on board to inspect her, except CEPS.
While CEPS failed to attend the meeting to enable them to prevent whatever dangerous goods that the ship had brought in, if any, they then issued seizure notice to the ship for the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) to investigate how she entered the Dry-Dock.
This delayed the ship at the cost of 20,000 dollars a day for seven days and when the BNI report showed that she was no security risk, the shipping agent was made to pay a penalty of 10 million cedis and the delay made the ship to lose her cargo, which she was to load in South Africa.
Mr Cyril K. D. Mensah, Assistant Commissioner for Tema Long Room denied that CEPS does not attend berthing meetings, however, he conceded that they had not been regular.
He said that he was going to ensure that "my men fulfil their obligation by being present at the daily meeting".
He blamed the shipmaster for not reporting to CEPS, when the ship stayed in the country for 17 days.
Mr Norris Yaw Amponsah Asamoah, Operations Manager of Ocerec Limited, who facilitated the docking of the ship, confirmed the story.
GRi../
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Accra (Greater Accra) 04 July 2002
Restaurants and bar operators in the northern regions prefer fowls reared locally to those reared in poultry farms because they taste better and cost less.
"Local fowls everyday dominate the markets because the people have not only developed a taste for them but also because they are cheaper than broilers," Mrs. Elizabeth Panin, a poultry farmer from the Upper East region told the GNA in an interview at a two-day seminar for farmers in the industry on Tuesday in Accra.
"Local birds farming is very lucrative since profit margins are high," she said.
The seminar organised by the Ghana Branch of the World Poultry Science Association (WPSAGHB) was on the theme: "Achieving high productivity in poultry
production through good quality feed formulation and modern farm management."
Mrs Panin said the people also think that the meat of chicken from poultry farms is too soft and, therefore, not nutritious.
As a result poultry farmers in the northern regions find their business unproductive as profit margins dwindle and most of their products stay a long time in deep freezers.
She said if nothing was done to generate awareness of the scientific advantage of chicken reared on poultry farms most farms would collapse.
Reacting to her appeal, Dr. Francis Boachie, Vice President of the Poultry Association assured Mrs Panin that the problem is normal and the situation would change with time.
He said many efforts to develop commercial poultry in the country have failed to yield the desired results because of strong dependence on expensive imported inputs.
GRi../
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Accra (Greater Accra) 04 July 2001
Importation of poultry products cannot be stopped if scientists and researchers fail to come out with solutions to the high feeding cost of poultry, Dr Matthew Antwi, Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) said on Tuesday.
Speaking at two-day seminar for poultry farmers in Accra, Dr Antwi, who is in charge of livestock, said the feed is a major cause of high poultry prices.
"The cost, as well as the quality of feed, affects the final poultry products," he said.
The Minister promised the government's help for researchers to ensure that imported poultry products are made unattractive to local consumers in the near future.
The seminar organised by the Ghana branch of the World Poultry Science Association (WPSA) was on the theme: "Achieving high productivity in poultry production through good quality feed formulation and modern farm management."
According to the Deputy Minister, the current 10 per cent import duty on poultry products is creating problems for local farmers who cannot compete.
The Minister said per capita consumption of poultry products in the country is among the lowest in the world.
"The average per capita consumption per person yearly is 12 as compared to 154 eggs."
"That of chicken is 1.2 kilograms per person per year as compared to a world average of 9.7 kilograms. The government cannot accept this situation and the trend must therefore be reversed."
Dr Francis Boachie, Vice President of the Ghana branch of the association said marketing cooperatives should be formed to address the challenges of the industry and pool resources together to promote the consumption of poultry meats and eggs.
Dr Boachie mentioned strong dependence on expensive imported inputs, high interest rates and low purchasing power of the average consumer as some of their problems and asked government to assist.
GRi../
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