sps capacity building in africa to mitigate the harmful effects of pesticides residues in cocoa and...

SPS CAPACITY BUILDING IN AFRICA TO MITIGATE THE HARMFUL EFFECTS OF PESTICIDES RESIDUES IN

COCOA AND TO MAINTAIN MARKET ACCESS.

“Overview of the implementation of SPS standards and constraints in Ghana”

Regional Workshop, Yaounde, Cameroon, 7 – 11 June 2011

Kwasi Gorkeh-Sekyim, Managing Director

Quality Control Company Ltd, COCOBOD

National Co-ordinator, GHANA

Regional Workshop presentation, Yaounde, Cameroon 7-11 June

2011

Introduction

• Ghana is the second largest producer of cocoa in the world.

• Production is estimated at more than 900,000 tonnes for 2010/2011.

• Projections are about 1,000,000 tonnes for 2011/2012.

• Ghana’s cocoa quality is the best in the world but needs improvement, hence our participation in this current project.

2Regional Workshop presentation, Yaounde, Cameroon 7-11 June 2011

Pre-launching of Project

• The project was pre-launched in Accra, Ghana from 19-21st January 2011.

-The meeting was attended by the Regional Co-ordinator as well as the National Co-ordinators of all the participating countries and also representatives of EDES/COLEACP, CropLife Africa, UNIDO and ICCO.

3Regional Workshop presentation, Yaounde,

Cameroon 7-11 June 2011

Pre-Launch Meeting• A number of recommendations which were to

be implemented by each participating country were made. One of these recommendations was that– Each participating country should constitute a

National Project Steering Committee (NPSC)– Open a project account and make payment of

60% of counterpart contribution into the account– Identify and liaise with all the institutions within

the country that will participate in the projectRegional Workshop presentation, Yaounde,

Cameroon 7-11 June 2011 4

Project activities so far• National Project Steering Committee is

constituted as follows:– Chairman-Dr Yaw Adu-Ampomah, Deputy CE (A&QC)– Nat. Co-ordinator- Mr Gorkeh-Sekyim, M.D. QCCL– Member, Dr. A. R. Cudjoe, Head, Entomology Division, CRIG– Member, Dr. W. A. Jonfia-Essien, Manager, Reseach Dep. QCCL– Member, Mr. K. Obeng-Adjina, Nat. Co-ordinator, CODAPEC– Member, Mrs Prudence Asamoah-Bonti, Ghana Standards Board– Member, Mr John A. Pwamang, Director, CCMC/EPA– Member, Nana Adjei Kramoh, GCCSFA– Member, Mr Lawrence Ayisi Botwe, LICOBAG– Member, Mr Emmanuel Tetteh, CEPS– Member, Mr Vesper Suglo, Director, PPRSD/MOFA


Project Implementation Team

• Mr K. Gorkeh-Sekyim, M.D. QCCL and

National Co-ordinator• Dr S. T. Lowor, Biochemist, CRIG• Dr Francis Baah, Agric Economist/Extension • Mr George Okyere, Quality Control Manager, QCCL• Mr William Azalekor, Entomologist, QCCL• Mr Francis Enyan, Principal Quality Control Officer


Project Account

• A project account has been opened.

• 60% of counterpart contribution has been transferred into the account.


Stakeholder Institutions

• Relevant stakeholder Institutions have been contacted and nominations for the steering committee have been received.

Regional Workshop presentation, Yaounde, Cameroon 7-11 June 2011 8

Implementation of core activities under project components

Up-date on existing SPS practices along the cocoa supply chain

• In general, pesticide residues raise the greatest level of concern with our exports to the EU identified as the key market with new legislation on residues though contaminants are also becoming important.



• There are significant country variations however.

• For example Ghana focuses on Japanese standards for pesticide residues, despite the relatively small proportion (4%) of its export market.


• Japan has the most stringent specifications for MRLs and conforming to their requirements reduces the burden of meeting the requirements of other cocoa importing countries.

• In view of this, activities are carried out to improve the existing SPS practices

Information dissemination

• Adequate awareness has been created among cocoa farmers and other stakeholders along the cocoa supply chain on the SPS standards

• Information on pesticide use is disseminated to Farmers at organized rallies at least twice every month in all cocoa districts in Ghana.

• Rural FM stations are also used to inform farmers generally about the rational use of pesticides.



• Emphasis is placed on the dangers of wrong application of pesticides and the need to use only approved pesticides.

• They are also educated on the importance of acquiring pesticides from the right source to avert the use of fake ones.• Other stakeholders have also been provided relevant information through seminars and workshops.

Set up of laboratories and SPS projects

• In addition to Ghana Standards Board there are four other laboratories involved in pesticide residue analysis of cocoa beans.– Three of these laboratories are in QCC

– one in Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG).

Regional Workshop presentation, Yaounde,

Cameroon 7-11 June 2011 14


• At the moment new Gas Chromatography and Mass Spectrometers (GC/MS) have been installed in all these laboratories though the MS is not in operation.

• Pesticide residue analysis has commenced in one of the QCC laboratories on a low scale .• Full scale utility of the equipment will commence after a few logistical challenges are addressed.

• One new High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) has been installed in one of the QCC laboratories and two new ones are yet to be installed in the other laboratories in preparation for take off of a large scale pesticide residue analysis.

• Additionally an Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS) for the analysis of heavy metals is in place.

• Also, a Flame Photometer (FP) for the analysis of sodium, potassium and lithium has been procured.


Other SPS core activities• Another SPS activity that will soon take off

fully is mycotoxin analysis.

• The activity commenced with samples collection for ochratoxin analysis (OTA) from all the 73 cocoa districts in Ghana.

• Collected samples have been stored at the moment in a very low temperature refrigerator.

• Actual analysis is yet to start using the HPLC.



•These sets of equipment and the staff trained to run them form part of the country’s counterpart contribution in kind towards the project

• Screening cocoa beans for Free Fatty Acids (FFA) has not been part of the SPS activity per se but QCC has done a lot to ensure that cocoa beans exported have FFA less than the threshold of 1.0%.

• Both education and effective warehouse management has helped to curb the FFA to the barest minimum.


Training

• Some staff have been trained in the pesticide residue analysis.

• But not much has been done with regards to training in heavy metal analysis due to inadequate logistics

• A lot more needs to be done to ensure conformity and compliance to international standards.


Constraints

• We do not anticipate very many constraints at this moment. The only few ones encountered so far have been the:– Late opening of the account and transfer of

project funds to facilitate timely procurement of expendables.

– Delayed installation and exploitation of equipment in other labs. ie Kumasi and Takoradi


Perspective

• Formal inauguration of the NSC is expected soon.

• Project funds from external sources are also expected to be lodged soon after here.

• We hope that all needed structures will be duly established for the smooth take off of planned project activities.


Acknowledgement

• The Ghana team on behalf of COCOBOD and on its own behalf wishes to express gratitude to ICCO, STDF and all other donor agencies for such an important support to implement a project of this nature.

• We wish all teams a successful and smooth implementation.

• Thank you.23Regional Workshop presentation, Yaounde,

Cameroon 7-11 June 2011

sps capacity building in africa to mitigate the harmful effects of pesticides residues in cocoa and...

Documents

ghana regional workshop

project account

project activities

qccl member

project components

launching of project

current project

project implementation