Ghanaian exporters to the United States market have been urged to improve labelling and packaging of their products to meet the specifications under the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).

Mrs Joyce Stuber, a consultant on labelling and packaging, and a senior lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, (KNUST) in Kumasi who gave the advice said the labelling and packaging of most of the products do not meet international standards and may, therefore, be rejected in the USA market.

Speaking at a three-day seminar on labelling and packaging design for exporters in the country under the auspices of the Ghana Export Promotion Council (GEPC), she said Ghanaians need to spend more money in getting the right labelling and packaging to meet acceptable international standards if they are to make a significant breakthrough in the US market.

She said with the competition posed by the Asian countries on the international market, there is the need for Ghanaians to double up to ensure that they have a fair share of the market.

She said the efforts made by the government to be part of AGOA needs to be complemented by exporters by ensuring that their products meet the required standards.

Mrs Stuber said there is no doubt about the quality of Ghana’s products, however, their labelling and packaging make it difficult for consumers outside the country to trust the content.

She said since the manufacturer or producer will not be in every shop to convince a customer to patronise the product, it is up to them to do proper labelling for the packaging to do the talking.

The consultant said some producers and manufacturers are making it big on the international scene and it is up to the larger majority, who are not yet conforming to standards to endeavour to do the right things. She said AGOA is an opportunity for them to turn their companies around for the better and it will only take strict adherence to regulations to make it.

Hajia Alima Mahama, Deputy Minister of Trade, Industry and President’s Special Initiatives, in her opening address, said the programme has come at an opportune time when the government has increased its support to industry with the objective of enhancing the competitiveness of Ghanaian products.

“It is the belief of government that our industries, having experienced depressive situations in the past will require well-defined strategies to overcome the myriad of problems and to position them to withstand the challenges of greater competition in the international trade,” she said.

Hajia Mahama also mentioned a comprehensive imports-substitution industrialisation programme, targeted at producing locally, 70 per cent of all non-petroleum government imports as well as 50 per cent of all processed foods/agricultural products imported by individuals and companies.

She said to achieve this, a technology-improved programme aimed at retooling local industries and thereby improving and enhancing competitiveness will be implemented while all the 110 district assemblies under the Rural Enterprise Development Programme will be assisted to develop three commercially viable flagship projects, which will generate a total of 330 business enterprises in rural communities over a three-year period.