Ghana: Landbrug og industri truet

Jacob Kwabla Kpodo kan hurtigt opremse de udfordringer, som tomatfarmere i Ada – en kystby i det sydlige Ghana – står overfor: De kan ikke købe moderne landbrugsredskaber. De har svært ved at få lån. De har ikke adgang til handelsruter, og har svært ved at markedsføre deres produkter.

Ikke detso mindre har det lysnet for landmændene i Ada på det seneste. Sidste november forbød Ghanas regering import af tomatpasta som led i et forsøg på at skære ned i import af varer til Ghana generelt.

Toldmure giver arbejdspladser
Siden da er efterspørgslen på lokalt producerede tomater steget, og landmænd har fået et incitament til at producere flere tomater. Mr. Kpodo siger, at landmændenes udbytte er øget. Og i takt med at det er blevet mere profitabelt at dyrke tomater, har flere unge mennesker fundet vej ind i erhvervet.

Men mr. Kpodo frygter, at alle disse fremskridt kan forsvinde med et pennestrøg, hvis hans regering underskriver en partnerskabsaftale med EU.

Aftalerne har ført til en bølge af protester i mange afrikanske lande. I Ghana har blandt Association of Ghana Industries, Ghana Trade Union Congress og flere andre organisationer henstillet til regeringen ikke at underskrive aftalen, og nu slutter også Ghanas landmænd op i protestkoret.

Ifølge Mr. Kpodo har Ghana simpelthen ikke fabrikkerne til at pakke tomater, så de lever op til internationale standarder. Derfor mener han, at hvis Ghana blev åbnet til verdensmarkedet, ville ghanesiske tomatprodukter ikke kunne konkurrere med europæiske. Han siger, at regeringen i stedet burde fokusere på at renovere landets mange tomatfabrikker, eller på at bygge nye.

Landbrugsstøtte gør EU-ris billigere
Emmanual Amoak, der er vicepræsident for Okyereko Co-operative Society, har lignende forbehold overfor fri adgang for europæisk ris til det ghanesiske marked.

Ifølge Emanuel Amoak koster det en ghanesisk landmand et beløb svarende til 330 euro at producere et ton ris. En europæisk landmand, der får EU-støttemidler, kan producere den sammen mængde ris for 200 euro. I stedet for at underskrive en partnerskabsaftale, vil Amoak hellere se sin regering arbejde for at holde udenlandsk ris ude af Ghana.

Nedenstående artikler fra de ghanesiske aviser Graphic Ghana og Daily Guide fortæller mere om ghanesisk landbrug og industris utilfredshed med EU-aftalerne:

Economic pact not good for us, farmers tell ACP delegates

Peasant farmers and some civil society groups in Ghana have called on African Ministers and negotiators to reject the Economic Partnership Agreements with the European Union.
Graphic Ghana, 29 September 2008
Peasant farmers and some civil society groups in Ghana have called on African Ministers and negotiators to reject the Economic Partnership Agreements with the European Union.

The group explained that when the economic agreements came into force it would collapse local manufacturing industry as well as the agricultural sector as subsidised goods would be dumped in Ghana and other signatory economies.

The Administrative Secretary of the Osudoku Agricultural Co-operatives Association, Mr David Odonkor, at a ‘No EPAs’ forum organised by the Ghana Trade and Livelihood Coalition (GTLC) at Asutsuare in the Dangbe East District, called on ministers and delegates who will be attending the ACP meeting in Accra to kick against such lopsided economic agreements.

He drew attention to flows in fertiliser subsidies under the government’s emergency plan and said if such simple policies could not be implemented, why should such agreements which have far-reaching negative consequences on the local agricultural industry be signed.

Ghana, a member of the regional economic bloc, ECOWAS, is negotiating a bilateral trade agreement known as the Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union.

The call of tomato and rice co-operative farmer groups in the Dangbe East and West districts of the Greater Accra Region, as well as those in parts of the Central Region, comes at a time when the ACP is holding its sixth ministerial meeting in Accra from tomorrow.

Topmost on the agenda of the ACP countries is how to conclude negotiations on the EPAs, which should have been signed last December.

Mr Odonkor said farmers in the hinterlands did not even have access to basic facilities like schools and asked why should the tariffs on imported rice should be cut instead of using the proceeds from the tariffs to support the farming communities.

Some farmers from Ada also called for a permanent ban on the importation of tomato paste in the country, since the local industry could meet that need.

While the EU produces industrial goods and subsidises its farmers substantially, African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries, mainly former colonies of Europe, are still engaged in traditional peasant and subsistence farming with crude implements and methods. ACP countries also cannot provide any substantial subsidies to its farmers.

The Co-ordinator of GTLC, Mr Ibrahim Akalbila, said the coalition, an affiliate of the Africa Trade Network (ATN) wanted a stop to the EPAs because they had devastating consequences on the economies of the ACP countries.

He said effective government instruments and policies of governments such as procurement processes, which it used to promote local businesses were all under threat when an EPA came into force.

Mr Akalbila stressed the need to implement to the letter policies that were meant to salvage the local industries, including agriculture, rather than parading to sign EPAs.
The GTLC, as part of the larger ATN, would organise a number of public events, including processions and media interactions, as part of civil society activities during the sixth ACP Ministerial Meetings in Accra.

Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire went ahead last December to initial an Interim EPA to prevent its exports, such as banana and pineapples from being rejected by the EU.

"Don’t Sign EPAs"

Trade sector advocacy bodies such as the Ghana Trade Livelihood Coalition and Actionaid Ghana as well as some civil society groups have renewed their call on government not to sign the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with the European Union.
Daily Guide, Ghana. 1 December 2008. By Charles Nixon Yeboah
Trade sector advocacy bodies such as the Ghana Trade Livelihood Coalition and Actionaid Ghana as well as some civil society groups have renewed their call on government not to sign the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with the European Union.

The groups however urged government to sign a trade agreement that will prevent free imports from Europe, since any false move could destroy the infantile manufacturing industry and the agric sector. The new deadline for the agreement is December 2009.

“It is not that we don’t want our governments to trade with Europe but what we are saying is that we want a preferential treatment that will favour us”, Christable Phiri, Programmes Officer of TWN Africa said.

Ms Phiri added that the signing of the EPAs in its present state will push out local producers from the market and therefore make them redundant. “It will shock you that imported milk will be cheaper than the local one since production and supply chain costs will be higher.”

Ghana and Cote d’lvoire signed an interim agreement, EPA-lite in December 2007, a situation that enabled the two countries continue exports of local products to Europe.

This was due to the expiration of the Cotonou Trade Agreement in December last year. The EPA-lite will provisionally allow 80 percent of some European goods into the Ghanaian market duty-free and quota-free while the country will continue to have 100 percent access to the EU market. Ghana will also continue to impose tariffs on items described as sensitive products such as textiles, agricultural products imported from Europe as well as items that can be produced by the country’s manufacturing sector.

Speaking on “Gender, EPAs and Trade Policy Governance”, Tetteh Hormeku, Project Coordinator, TWN, said if the agreements were signed, that would mean taking the women out of the retail business as many giant multilateral companies would take over the sector.

He added that 70 percent of the trade of women in the ACP bloc was not exported, implying that even if the EPAs were signed, it would not benefit women traders on the ACP bloc.