Thursday, July 4, 2013

ESSAY

Trade and Sustainable Development in Ghana Ghana’s economic growth over the past 20 years has generated opportunities for further growth as well as new challenges. Consolidating the country’s economic gains and ensuring continuing inclusive and sustainable growth that targets the rural poor now depend on its ability to add value to agricultural produce and reach out for export markets. The Better Ghana Agenda under John Dramani Mahama’s Administration has asked various Ministries and its Agencies to undertake sensitization and awareness programmes on the impact of transport on the environment especially in the rural communities in the country. Adverse impact on the environment from transportation activities and measures for abating them are impacted to all stakeholders such as contractors, transport operators through seminars, workshops and media campaign. The present level of awareness campaigns and training programmes needs to be intensified. The National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) as part of the on-going programme of promoting road safety education awareness undertakes road safety campaigns through the media, safety awareness courses for driving schools, drivers, and police officers and other stakeholders in the transportation industry. NRSC officials and Policy officers visit schools periodically to educate children on how to behave within a road environment especially the safe way for crossing the road. In-house and out of the country training and refresher courses are provided for engineers and other experts as a means towards capacity building within the transport and traffic sector of the economy. Seminars and workshops are also conducted for road contractors and other providers of transport infrastructure to enhance their skills and expertise. For road sector, traffic data is collected by the various transport agencies responsible for the implementation of transportation schemes and measures or their commissioned agents. The Police together with Building and Road Research Institute (BRRI) collect information on road safety and accidents on the road network. Accident data is analyzed by BRRI. Results from these findings are for instance used as a basis for designing schemes and measures ameliorating accidents at hazardous spots. With respect to air and maritime transport, their respective agencies such as the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority, Ghana Airways, the Ghana Ports and Harbors Authority, the Shippers Council and the Shipping Commission are responsible for ensuring that data is gathered for their respective functions. To meet these challenges, UNIDO has cooperated with the Ghanaian Government to: Strengthen Ghana's Standards Board's capacity to develop and publish standards for selected export products; Train Ghanaian enterprises on the adoption of priority public and private standards; Establish a national traceability system for horticultural products; Upgrade laboratories to meet the ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation standard; As a result of these interventions, local producers now have standards that govern both the quality and the safety of their agricultural products. Their exports can be traced back to the farm and the source of any non-compliance with standards and safety requirements quickly identified. Ghana's newly strengthened quality infrastructure draws on the best international methods to test food, beverages and drinking water for toxins and pesticides. This, together with recently introduced legislation, marks a major step towards ensuring the safety of food from microbiological and chemical contamination at all stages of the food chain. The enhanced export capacity of Ghana’s agro-based sectors will generate new market opportunities that will lead to a diversification of the country’s export base. It has the potential to emerge as a market leader, particularly in supplying food products to the EU. The broader framework of this assistance is also especially beneficial to Ghana, where a majority of the population lives in rural areas and is dependent on agricultural production and exports.