Stakeholders in Ghana’s oil Palm industry say the sector is on the verge of collapse, as cheap imports continue to take over the local market.
According to them unless government acts quickly, very soon, there may no longer be a local oil palm industry.
The Oil Palm Development Association of Ghana (OPDAG), the mouthpiece of the sector says, since the introduction of the benchmark valuation policy by government last year, the industry has been struggling to survive indicating that the policy has made imports cheaper than the locally produced products.
The association says prior to the introduction of the benchmark value, a 25liter (Yellow Gallon) of oil produced locally was selling at One Hundred and Forty-Five Ghana Cedis, (GH¢145) against One Hundred and Fifty Ghana Cedis (GH¢150) for the imported produce.
However, according to President of OPDAG, Samuel Avaala, when the policy kicked in, whereas the locally produced vegetable oil was still selling at One Hundred and Forty-Five Ghana Cedis, the imported products started selling between Seventy-Five Ghana Cedis and One Hundred and Twenty Ghana Cedis.
This situation, he contends has affected local players in the industry, as refineries continue to shut down and lay off workers.
“A greater number of farmers have also found their way out of business as a result of the dwindling fortunes of the sector, the entire value chain of the sector has been negatively impacted by the benchmark valuation policy,” he emphasized.
“We want the government to take steps to rescue the industry from total collapse and the already dire situation of industry players who continue to invest huge sums of money in their operations, “he stressed.
The association fears the worst for the industry since the Benchmark Valuation Policy has virtually brought the sector onto its knees coupled with the outbreak of the Corona Virus pandemic.
It therefore wants the government to exempt the sector from the Benchmark Valuation as a way of safeguarding the continuous existence of the sector and guaranteeing the economic livelihoods of the tens of thousands within the oil palm value chain in the country.
Source: Henry George Martinson/radiogoldlive.com
