TCDA, stakeholders to form taskforce for curbing cooking oil smuggling
The Tree Crops Development Authority (TCDA) will team up with major state institutions to form a joint monitoring and enforcement taskforce aimed at curbing the influx of smuggled and unregistered cooking oil in Ghana.
This decision emerged from a stakeholder meeting held in Accra on Friday, where participants discussed strategies to regulate and clamp down on illegal cooking oil trade.
Representatives from the Police, Immigration, Judicial Services, Ghana Armed Forces, Ghana Standards Authority, Food and Drugs Authority, Ghana Investment Promotion Centre, and Ghana Shippers Authority attended the meeting.
Dr Andy Osei Okrah, CEO of TCDA, emphasized that the taskforce will enforce the TCDA Act, 2019 (Act 1010), and its Legislative Instrument (LI 2471), which mandate all players, including cooking oil importers, to register and obtain licences from the Authority.
“Anyone operating within the oil palm industry must register with the Tree Crops Development Authority and secure the required licence and permit to import or trade,” Dr Okrah said.
He acknowledged that many stakeholders are unaware of TCDA’s mandate due to its recent establishment, which necessitated the engagement to educate them. The stakeholders pledged support for enforcing compliance to benefit the economy.
Dr Okrah noted that effective regulation requires collaboration with relevant state agencies in accordance with the law. The taskforce will monitor, inspect, and verify the registration and licensing status of cooking oil businesses, and offenders will face legal consequences.
Data from the Oil Palm Development Association of Ghana (OPDAG) revealed that about 90 per cent of cooking oil in the local market is smuggled or uncertified, a situation endangering Ghana’s oil palm industry.
This sector employs over 850,000 people, including 36,000 women, and contributes more than GHS500 million in annual taxes.
OPDAG President Paul Amaning highlighted that smuggling through land borders undermines local production.
“About 1.2 million people work in this industry, paying corporate and value-added taxes, yet smugglers import cheap oil via unofficial routes without tax, creating unfair competition,” he said.
Mr Amaning urged government and security agencies to enforce import policies that require vegetable oil to enter through designated ports such as Takoradi, rather than land borders, to protect jobs and the local industry. Established under Act 1010 in 2019, the TCDA regulates and promotes Ghana’s tree crops subsector, including cashew, mango, coconut, rubber, shea, and oil palm, to diversify the economy beyond cocoa and support value addition.
