The West Africa Food System Resilience Project (FSRP), in collaboration with the Ghana Standards Authority, has carried out a first phase review of product standards for FSRP value chain products: rice, maize, soya, cowpea and poultry.
The aim of the review was to establish an industry-wide consensus on acceptable food standards as a means of building resilience.
Participants were drawn from various national regulatory organisations, including the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA), the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as well as key departments of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA). Other experts came from the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI), the Ghana Commodity Exchange (GCX), and a number of private players in the value chain for the aggregation and processing of selected commodities.
The analyses and reviews targeted rice, maize, soya and poultry, focusing on general and specific requirements, in accordance with definitions, hygiene, contaminants, microbiological limits, physical and sanitary characteristics, pesticide residues, mycotoxins, grading, compliance criteria, sampling, testing, packaging, labelling and storage, among others.
The FSRP, under the aegis of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), is financed by the World Bank and coordinated by ECOWAS, with the aim of mobilising national and sub-regional forces to sustainably reduce food insecurity in West Africa. Component 3 of the project focuses on facilitating the integration of markets and trade, consolidating food reserve systems and developing strategic value chains.
Allswell Emmanuel, agricultural economist at the FSRP's national coordination office, explained that the project would provide technical assistance to assess the state of the current product certification regime in the selected value chains, and develop an action plan to improve it, including improving standards for rice, maize, soya and poultry. The experts were therefore tasked with reviewing existing standards to ensure that they are adapted to current and emerging trends (both locally and internationally) and to identify any gaps. They also critically examined the process of updating existing standards, in order to keep abreast of new trends (both locally and internationally), and to develop awareness and training programmes on the updated standards and how to comply with them.
The FSRP's national coordinator, Mr Osei Owusu Agyeman, stressed the need to widely disseminate the results of the product standards review to value chain players and the general public, in order to ensure mass awareness, appreciation and mutual respect.
For the Ghana Standards Authority, among other benefits, compliance with standards makes it possible to improve risk management, reduce production and transaction costs and enhance the competitiveness of businesses.
The participants recommended that the FSRP consider acquiring certain standards documents from the GSA for the beneficiaries of its projects, in order to encourage the adoption of and compliance with the standards.
The products examined are currently undergoing technical control protocols at the GSA with a view to possible modifications, before being approved for industrial adoption.
