The Soya Value Chain Association Ghana has called on the legal committee of parliament to review the act governing the appointment of committee members of the export control committee.

The association said the export control committee that they advocated for has been hijacked by actors who have no knowledge of the soya bean industry.

Speaking to the media at the Soya Value Chain Association consultative meeting in Tamale with support from GIZ AgriBiz, the Executive Secretary of the Association, Yaw Afrifa, said the association is not happy with the activities of the committee.

"As we have names of the members of the committee but we do not see faces, they have never called us for any interaction to know whether it should be extended or be lifted; all we hear is the government has extended," Mr. Afrifa said.

He said the association wrote a position paper asking for changes on the committee, but they were told it’s a legal issue that must be directed at parliament.

"In fact, last year we did a position paper on this asking them for that change. We went to the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Trade and Industry; then they told us that what we are asking for is a legal issue and only the legal committee of parliament can do that," he added.

Mr. Afrifa said the association would, in the coming days, present a formal petition to the legal committee of parliament for the review to reflect the reality where actors who have an understanding of the area are part of the committee to deal with its issues.

"From here, we are going to make a formal petition to the parliamentary legal committee to review that act so in case we are getting a committee to control anything within the soya value chain, we want actors to be leaders of that committee to control that committee, not the politicians or the civil servants. They are in their offices; they do not fully understand what goes on in the value chain, so if you give the chairmanship position, they drag it to their advantage," he said.

The Executive Secretary of the Association called for the rights of actors in the value chain to lead the processes.

He said one other issue that is also of concern to the association was how to address the issue of access to farm inputs. He said soya bean has become a commercial crop which has been identified by the government.

Mr. Afrifa said, therefore, there was a need to support farmers to cultivate the crop to increase production. He said inputs have gone so high and farmers do not have access to subsidies; therefore, the intervention of the association is to facilitate farm inputs at reduced prices to help the farmers.

Mr. Afrifa said they have brokered deals with some input companies who are ready to support the farmers. He said one other issue that needs to be addressed is prices for the crop.

Ghana Soya Bean Farmers and Aggregators Association chairman, Ahassan Abdulai Andrews, on his part said the process where soya beans are bought on credit from farmers should also be reviewed to help address the concerns of the farmers. "We would love for anybody coming to buy from the farmer to give him his money at a good price so that he has money to continue with his production. So until farmers are given their money to meet what they have invested and make profit, I don’t think our concerns have been addressed," he said.

Mr. Andrews said farmers seek credit to farm; therefore, they expect aggregators and processes to also go for credit to buy and not continue buying on credit.

The North West Chairman of the Value Chain Association, Randy Haile Selassie Senior, said the meeting was a good exercise they have always advocated for in the past, which never materialized.

He said for the first time, the association reached an agreement on several issues leading to the formation of a committee to draft some policy issues to address their concerns.

"It’s a value chain, so we have aggregators, processes, and everybody trying to further their interests, but today we are seeing the way forward. We’ve been arguing, but we have never concluded on anything, but today we have come to a conclusion that the commission will work and present a paper on the issues," Mr. Selassi added.

He said he sees soya bean as the new cocoa, set to rake in foreign exchange for the country.

A member of the Commercial Farmers Association, Isaac Papanko, said the issues discussed at the forum were great, except for some few grey areas that needed to be addressed to ensure the industry flourishes.

He said if the association was able to address the issues of credit, farm inputs, among others, then they would be making huge gains in the soya industry.