President John Dramani Mahama has commended the United States Government for lifting the tariff on agriculture imports it imposed on Ghana.
He said the tariffs imposed were on agricultural products including cocoa, avocado, oranges, pepper, onions and yam, explaining that the reverse of the decision meant that Ghana’s products to the US market would now attract zero tariff.
President Mahama gave the commendation during his address at the 41st Farmers Day Celebration at Ho, the Volta Region.
“We don’t pay any tariff. Our current volume of trade with the US in agricultural products is about $100 million, but we can significantly raise this because of the opportunity they’re giving us,” he said.
He urged those who were into agriculture, to look at the list of Ghana’s agricultural export commodities to the United States, to enable them to improve upon their production capacities for export for enhanced income.
President Mahama stated that agriculture was profitable and improved income and that was why even as President, he still functioned as a farmer.
He encouraged all his appointees and government officials to procure some land and plant an oil palm.
“If you do 10 or 20 acres of oil palm, you will be surprised that it will give you more money than the salary you take every year,” he said
The President appealed to Ghanaians to invest in agriculture and be able to produce so that they could supplement their incomes.
Source: GNA
