GHANA STANDARDS BOARD UPGRADES TWO LABORATORIES (PAGE 44, NOV 16)

the Ghana Standards Board has inaugurated two modern microbiology and pesticide residue testing laboratories to test Ghana’s agro exports.
The laboratories, which have been upgraded and internationally accredited, were sponsored by the Swiss Government through the UNIDO Trade Capacity Building Project.
Inaugurating the laboratories, the Minister of Trade and Industry, Ms Hannah Tetteh, said steps had been taken to upgrade key laboratories in various standards and regulatory institutions with technical assistance under the Trade Capacity Building Project and the West African Quality Programme with ECOWAS.
She said Ghana stood to gain from the accredited laboratories if both private and public sector institutions took the opportunity to compete effectively in the local and export markets.
Ghana, like most developing countries, has liberalised its economy in the hope that it will expand its industrial base, achieve export-led growth and eradicate poverty.
Despite these measures, she said, Ghana had not been able to fully exploit its export potential.
“Challenges such as limited market access for exports still remain. Due to the lack of production capacity and stringent international standard requirements — technical, environmental, health and safety requirements set by importing markets, not very much is exported,’’ she said.
The laboratories will assist Ghanaian exporters to ensure food safety, timely detection of pesticide residue in local and exported food and reduce cost of testing in destination countries. Furthermore, Ghanaian exports will enjoy more acceptance because data generated by the accredited laboratories are internationally recognised and finally, the exports will enjoy consumer confidence.
For his part, the Executive Director of the Ghana Standards Boards (GSB), Mr Adu Darkwa, said in less than two years, the GSB had had five of its laboratories accredited.
The Chief Executive Director of the Cocoa Board, Mr Anthony Fofie, said the accredited route had the advantage of a single transparent and repeatable approach, which should improve consistency.
He said the laboratories would impact positively on imports and exports to enhance the quality of trade in line with national aspirations of building a strong healthy economy and high standard of living for Ghana.
In his speech during the launch, the Swiss Ambassador, Mr Nicolas Lang, highlighted the benefits of laboratories to Ghana and expressed the hope that the Ghana Standards Board would maintain higher standards for Ghana’s exports.