Ghana earns over ¢5 billion from wildlife
export
Workers react to new SSB charges
New tax waiver for poultry farmers
Ghana earns over ¢5 billion from wildlife
export
Accra (Greater Accra) 24 November 2001- Ghana earned over 5 billion cedis from exporting some wild life species last year. The exports included reptiles, mammals, amphibians, scorpions and spiders.
The highest revenue earner was the python with 2.7 billion cedis. The lowest of 12 million cedis was from the amphibians that included frogs.
Mr Ernest Lamptey, a senior wild life officer of the Ghana Wildlife Department who spoke to the Ghana News Agency, said although most of the animals exported were collected from the wild, the department was encouraging the exporters to breed their own species.
"The future of the trade for the export of these reptiles, mammals and amphibians lies in the exporters breeding the animals themselves," he said.
Mr. Lamptey said exporters of pythons, for instance, bred over 80 per cent of the reptiles. They collected the pregnant females from the wild and kept them until they laid eggs.
The young pythons were monitored and bred until they were ready for export. There were times when the males and females were collected and allowed to mate. The eggs were collected, hatched and the young ones bred. The females were later released into the wild while the males were exported.
Mr. Lamptey said although the department allowed the exportation of almost all animals including chameleons, lizards, wall geckos, black cobras, tortoise, giant rats, scorpions, millipedes and some insects including the praying mantis, "all animal species had quotas, which the exporters are not expected to exceed."
When asked how the animals were collected, he said most of them were hunted for and collected from all over the country in sacks and stored that way till ready for export.
Most of these animals, he said, were exported to Europe and the USA and are used as pets, delicacies and for research work by some universities and other research institutions.
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Workers react to new SSB charges
Tepa (Ashanti Region) 24 November 2001- Workers in Ahafo Ano North District who collect their salaries through the Social Security Bank (SSB) at Tepa have threatened to close their accounts following an increment in the bank's service charges.
A spokesman of the workers, Mr Augustine Boadi told the Ghana News Agency that the bank had increased its monthly minimum maintenance fee from 6,000 cedis to 8,000 cedis. It has at the same time introduced a new salary-processing fee of 10,000 cedis, whilst in the case of pension it charges 5,000 cedis, he added.
The workers described these fees as "prohibitive and sheer exploitation of workers, whose take home pay is nothing to write home about." They called on the bank's management to revert to the old system or "witness the total withdrawal of the workers from business transactions with the bank."
Commenting on the agitation by the workers, Mr Ernest Obeng Amoako, the bank's branch manager, said the new charges were directives from the bank's headquarters, adding "this is in line with bench marking, service charges levied by our competitors".
Meanwhile, the bank had displayed the new charges, which take effect from November, on its notice board.
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New tax waiver for poultry farmers
Ashaiman (Greater Accra) 24 November 2001- The government has instituted a new tax waiver on all imported livestock feed ingredients to cut down the cost of animal feed, which presently constitutes 70 percent of production cost.
The tax relief forms part of government's policy to increase the contribution of the livestock sector to the economy and also boost animal protein intake.
Dr Mathew K. Antwi, Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture in-charge of Livestock, announced this at the commissioning of a new feed mill and shop established by the Tema Municipal Poultry and Livestock Farmers Association at Tema on Friday.
The mill is expected to serve 130 members of the association who raise about 150,000 layers, 3,000 pigs, 3,000 ruminants and more than 60,000 broilers annually.
Dr. Antwi said the measure would also boost domestic production, processing and marketing of poultry and livestock products and the supply of husbandry and veterinary inputs and equipment to the industry.
He recalled that in the 1970s, the poultry industry achieved an unprecedented growth rate of 20 percent per annum and poultry meat consumed accounted for 17 percent of total meat consumption in the country.
As at now there are 25 commercial feed mills and 12 hatcheries, but most of them have either closed down or are producing at less than 50 percent of their installed capacity.
Dr Antwi said his Ministry has developed Feed Quality Standards in conjunction with the Ghana Standards Board (GSB) and the Animal Research Institute (ARI) for use by feed mills.
To facilitate the enforcement of the Feed Quality Standards, the Ministry has established a fully equipped Feed Analysis Laboratory at the (ARI) where random sampling and analysis of commercial feed would be undertaken.
Mr. Ellis Aferi, Chairman of the Association, said members have the potential to increase their layer population to about 250,000 and broilers to 100,000 but the empty "chicken houses" are mainly due to high cost of feeding, inadequate funding and high interest rates.
He said the association is producing good quality layer mash which it sells at 75,000 cedis as compared to inferior one sold by leading feed millers at 90,000 cedis, thus depriving poultry farmers of their profit.
The Association, therefore, intends to procure at least 1,000 maxi bags of maize so that it can produce feed at reasonable prices to its members throughout the year.
Mr. Aferi called on the government to subsidise the agricultural sector, stressing that, "it is difficult to label Ghana as an agricultural country when support for farmers is so minimal, credit to farmers is unavailable or interest rates makes them unaffordable".
The Agricultural sector employs 65 percent of Ghana's workforce and contributes 45 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
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