GIRSAL, USAID Ghana Trade and Investment Activity, VegPro Kenya, and other partners have initiated a pilot project to grow and export chili pepper using net house technology to meet the phytosanitary requirements of the EU market. This move is part of GIRSAL’s 5-year strategic plan to support export-related value chains such as vegetables, avocado, mango, and pomegranate, as well as for import substitutes like rice, broiler chicken, maize, tomato, and cassava.
Before 2015, Ghana was the largest fresh chili exporter to the United Kingdom outside of the European Union, exporting 1,903MT valued at USD 5.2 million. This is attributed to Ghana having a favorable seasonal marketing window to export to the United Kingdom as it coincides with the dry season in India, a major competitor in the chili export market.
Between 2012 and 2014, Ghana exported chili worth over 13.4 million. However, in 2015, the export value of the commodity experienced a sharp decline, as the country faced a ban on exporting chili and four other vegetables to the EU in the face of increased interceptions and notifications between 2012 and 2015 at the EU borders because of the presence of quarantine pests in Ghanaian vegetable exports.
Source: myjoyonline.com