The General Agricultural Workers Union of Ghana (GAWU) has urged government to negotiate with mall owners in the country to introduce the sale of agricultural produce from Ghana.
There are about six different malls in Accra alone, which stocks various agricultural produce from mainly South Africa and Europe.
[contextly_sidebar id=”lysT9uKnIKN5ZOVt6sdqNePrGftqtb0b”]Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show, the Deputy General Secretary of GAWU Edward Kareweh said their call is to ensure that Ghanaian farmers benefit from the proliferation of malls in Ghana.
“Government needs to negotiate with them because they have already invested and we cannot tell them they should close their shopping malls because they are bringing goods from outside,” he said.
Mr Kareweh suggested that government should engage the mall owners to ensure a sustainable agreement to this term adding, “we need to sit down with them now as an immediate solution to see how much they can take from the farmers because we are also seeking to ensure that quality standards are not compromised.”
“For a long term, more shopping malls will come into this country, investors that are coming into this area of the business must now agree that they will source, either 10 to 40 percent of their produce from within the country,” He advised.
He further advised that ways should be included to ensure its long term sustainability “they must also tell us how are they going to support the agricultural sector because there will be issues of the local producers not being able to supply them consistently with the provided quality.”
Concerns of the malls
Shop owners in the malls have also raised concerns about the quality of the produce from Ghana and the lack of standards from farmers.
President John Mahama at the opening of the Westhill Mall in Accra said the owners have “expressed willingness to source some of their produce locally,” but also charged the local farmers to up their game to meet the required standards.
There are also concerns about the meeting the demands constantly to stock the shelves of the shops.
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By:Patricia Conteh/citifmonline.com/Ghana