Stakeholders in Ghana’s fruits and vegetables sector have called for the prioritisation of Mango and Orange to improve export quality, extend value addition and assure compliance with market requirements.

They also called for a national logistics strategy and warehousing facility to ensure quality assurance of the fruits.

The call was made at a workshop to identify areas of intervention in a number of agricultural value chains related to commodities such as fruits and vegetables, fish, wood and cocoa.

The workshop was also aimed to meet all stakeholders in the industry and exchange ideas on ways to improve the Fruit and Vegetable value chain and identify areas along the value chain that needs intervention.

The event which has the theme “Assessing Innovation Opportunities in Ghana’s Fruit and Vegetable Value Chains”, was organised by United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO).

It would ensure that goods and services emanating from or traded in Ghana are designed, manufactured and supplied in a sustained manner that matches the needs, expectations and requirements of purchasers and consumers as well as those of the regulatory authorities in the local and export markets.

It brought together growers, processors, exporters, extension officers, horticulture associations, standard institutions, international consultants and various actors in the fruits and vegetable sector.

The workshop was the second phase of the UNIDO and Ministry of Trade and Industry's Training and Capacity Building Project to enhance the export performance of Ghana, by creating conditions for strengthening supply capacities in selected agriculture and industry branches, establishing a credible conformity assessment infrastructure and fostering integration into the multilateral trading system, while at the same time strengthening local consumer protection.

UNIDO in cooperation with the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI) had since 2007 been implementing a Trade Capacity Building Programme for Ghana, funded by The Swiss Confederation through its State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).

The first phase of the programme ended in December 2011 with specific technical assistance provided to support the conformity assessment of institutions in the country in areas of standards, certification, accreditation, and testing.

The beneficiaries of the first phase include Ghana Standards Authority, which obtained accreditation for its System Certification Body, increased its capacity in Standard Development and upgraded its testing laboratories in pesticide residue, mycotoxin, textile and microbiology.**