Welcome to the Official Website of the Ministry of Food & Agriculture, Ghana. West Africa.

BACKGROUND

The PPRSD was established in 1965 by an Act of Parliament: "The Prevention and Control of Pests and Diseases of Plants Act, 307". The PPRSD is the National Institution with the mandate and capacity to organise, regulate, implement and co-ordinate the plant protection services needed for the country in support of sustainable growth of agriculture. The national plant protection policy is Integrated Pest Management, IPM (1992).
The Directorate is structured into 4 Divisions:

• Crop Pests and Disease Management
• Seed Inspection and Certification
• Pesticide Management
• Plant Quarantine

To render efficient, environmentally safe and economically sustainable plant protection, and regulatory services that will be meeting the requirements of the clientele and thus contributing to increased food and raw material production.

MISSION

To provide services in order to safe-guard quality and quantity of crops from losses by pests and diseases.

The Directorate offers Public Services to:

• Extensionists,
• Farmers
• Importers/Exporters of agricultural goods
• Pesticide Dealers and Applicators
• Seed Producers and Dealers.

CROP PESTS & DISEASE MANAGEMENT DIVISION

Act 307, 1965, "The Prevention and Control of Pests and Diseases of Plants"
The Division develops Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) for Integrated Pest Management
(IPM), publishes information, carries out training and diagnostic services, monitors the pest
situation in the country, keeps statistics in its working field, manages calamity pest outbreaks
.(e.g. Armyworms, grasshoppers etc), and carries out bio-control measures.

SERVICES PROVIDED:

• Extension (GO and NGOs}: Training of Trainers in IPM, technical backstopping on crop pest identification and integrated control strategies.
• Farmers: Technical backstopping on identification of pests and integrated control strategies, support in certification (training pre-audit).
• Exporters of agricultural produce: Technical backstopping on identification of crop pests

and diseases (diagnosis}, support in certification.

SEED INSPECTION & CERTIFICATION DIVISION

NRCD 100,1972, "Seed inspection and Certification Decree" (under revision)
The Division supports the production of quality seeds (maize, rice, cowpeas, soybeans and other) and planting materials (cassava, yams, etc.), carries out field inspection, seed certification, trains farmers, dealers and inspectors, publishes information, monitors the seed
situation, keeps statistics in its working field and manages strategic seed security stocks.

SERVICES PROVIDED:

• Seed growers:

Registration, training in the production of certified seeds and planting materials, certification of foundation seed, field inspection, seed testing (viability, quality, health), Certification.

• Seed dealers:

Registration, monitors quality of certified seeds, promotional support, monitoring of sales and storage premises, training.

• Importers of seeds:

Laboratory analysis (viability, moisture, purity analysis.. seed health testing).

PESTICIDE MANAGEMENT DIVISION

Act 528, 1996: "The Management Act"
The Division works closely with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for management
of pesticides in the country. The Division supervises and trains inspectors, publishes
information material, trains, registers and inspects pesticide dealers and applicators, keeps
records as well as statistics of the working field and manages pesticide stocks for national use.

SERVICES PROVIDED:

• Pesticide dealers:

Registration, inspection, training on Pesticides management, facilitation of removal of obsolete chemicals

• Pesticide applicators:

Registration, inspection, training on Pesticides management.

• Extension:

Training and technical backstopping on pesticides management. Training of trainers
in pesticide management for certification purposes.

PLANT QUARANTINE DIVISION

Act 307, 196Q, "The Prevention and Control of Pests and Diseases of Plants Act"
The Division works closely with the customs authorities (CEPS) at all the official entry points. It
supervises and trains inspectors develops and publishes information material, keeps records of
plant' imports and exports, the importers and exporters, as well as the pests and diseases of
quarantine interest. It issues phytosanitary certificates and import permits. It also operates
the SPS Enquiry Point.

SERVICES PROVIDED:

• Exporters of agricultural produce:

Inspection, certification (phytosanitary certificates), treatment ( confiscation and destruction), information on export requirements;

• Importers of agricultural produce:

Inspection, certification (import permits), release, (confiscation and destruction, return to country of origin), information on import requirements; post-entry quarantine.