The Nkoranza Police Command in the Bono East Region has begun investigations into the alleged stealing of fertilizer under the Planting for Food and Jobs Programme in the Nkoranza South Municipality.
Police Commander, Superintendent William Gyamfi confirmed the development to Citi News.
Narrating how the alleged theft was detected, Member of Parliament for Nkoranza South, Charles Konadu said:
“We had a tip-off three days ago that a dealer of fertilizer in Nkoranza and it is alleged that he normally fetches it from the Planting for Foods and Jobs outlet and he repackages and send it outside Ghana for sale. The car he was traveling in has been intercepted in Techiman and investigations are going on.”
High cases of fertilizer smuggling
There have been increasing cases of fertilizer smuggling under the government’s program, Planting for Foods and Jobs in recent times.
These incidents which are being recorded in most of the regions up north is now becoming a matter of national concern.
Already, two registered input suppliers under the Planting for Food and Jobs initiative have been blacklisted for attempting to smuggle fertilizer to neighbouring Burkina Faso.
The two companies are; Intercontinental Agro Group and Dematar Ghana Company.
Failed mechanisms?
In 2018, there were recorded cases of fertilizer smuggling, a development that impeded the successful implementation of the Government’s flagship Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) program.
The Ministry of Foods and Agriculture (MoFA) at the time said it was intensifying measures to check and eliminate fertilizer smuggling to neighbouring and other African countries but it appears the new modalities introduced for the distribution of fertilizers to farmers are not yielding the needed results.
Although the government this year branded its subsidized fertilizer for easy identification to curb smuggling, the menace is still on the rise.
