Ghana Green Label Scheme is an initiative of the Horticulture Development Unit of the Crops Services Directorate of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture Ghana, the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH Market Oriented Agriculture Program (MOAP) and the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA). These parties, in 2011 begun discussions on the introduction of a certification scheme for fruits and vegetables sold on the domestic market.
It was envisaged that when the Ghana Green Label Scheme is developed, it would serve as an incentive for the adoption of Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) and Integrated Crop and Pest Management (ICPM) among producers.
After several initial discussions among DCS, GIZ MOAP, other stakeholders from the private sector (producers & retailers), NGOs, and governmental agencies came together to form the Ghana Green Label Implementing Committee. The Committee members represented their institutions i.e. MoFA DCS, GIZ-MOAP, MoFA PPRSD, GSA, Quarcoo Initiatives (Quinn Organics), Christian Aid, Agro Eco Louis Bolk Institute and GhanaVeg (now HortiFresh).
During the various stages of discussions, it became eminent to have standards developed to guide producers who will subscribe to the scheme. The GIZ-MOAP signed a financial agreement with Ghana Standards Authority to develop the standards in 2012. The Technical Committee (TC) of Ghana Standards Authority developed the Good Agricultural Practices: Ghana Green Label Scheme – Requirements for Fresh Fruits and Vegetables conforming to “Green Label” FDGS – 1054, Green Label Interpretation – Guidelines FDGS 1074, and the Green Label Manual (manual for the Ghana Green label scheme). The technical committee of GSA completed their task in 2013. The standard was widely circulated locally and internationally for public comments.
The Green Label Implementation Committee held quarterly meetings to develop various strategies to upscale the activities within the pilot phase of the implementation of the Ghana Green Label Scheme. GIZ MOAP contracted the services of designer who designed the Ghana Green Label logo/mark of assurance which will be displayed on certified produce. The Logo / mark have since been registered at the Registrar General’s Department.
The first pilot pre certification field inspection was undertaken at Sogakope and Anloga in the Volta region in February 2014. In March 2014, as part of the collaboration with Christian Aid a sensitization and training workshop on Green label was conducted at Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region for 45 members of the Coalition for the Advancement for Organic Farmers (COAF).
Second pilot pre certification field inspection was undertaken at Bolgatanga. All the pilot certifications were undertaken to assess farmers’ readiness to enroll in the Green Label Certification Scheme. Between October 2014 and February 2015 five vegetable producers’ associations in Accra were intensively engaged and trained on the requirements of the Ghana Green Label Standard.
In February 2015 the Directorate of Crop Services of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (DCS-MOFA) received financial assistance from the Trade Related Assistance and Quality Enabling Program (TRAQUE) an European Commission project to undertake needs assessment and organize Training of Trainers to support fruits and vegetables grower groups to meet the Ghana Green Label Standard requirements of the Ghana Green Label Certification Scheme.