Four private companies have expressed interest to establish agribusinesses in Mampong in the Ashanti Region in line with the government’s One District, One Factory (D1F1) initiative.
Proposals to that effect have been submitted to the Mampong Municipal Assembly for consideration and very soon the companies would start operating.
The Municipal Chief Executive, Mr. Thomas Appiah Kubi, who disclosed this when the Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD), Mr. Collins Augustine Ntim, paid a day’s working visit to the Municipality, mentioned the companies as Houtman Business, ND Agribusiness, Countryman Premium Company and Essential Products Limited.
He said Houtman Business is to establish Oil Palm Processing Plant to produce palm oil for industrial and domestic use while ND Agribusiness is to establish a 150-acre oil-palm plantation with a capacity of processing ten tons of palm oil per hour.
He added that Countryman Premium Company is to establish Organic Fertilizer Plant to produce chemical-free fertilizers for farmers in the area and Industrial Cassava Starch and Essential Products Limited (ICSEP) would also establish 4,000 hectares of Cassava Plantation and a Modern Cassava Starch Manufacturing Factory.
Mr. Appiah Kubi said the four companies would provide a ready market for farm produce to put money in the pockets of the farmers and also employ the youth in the area to reduce unemployment.
On his part, Mr. Emmanuel Baah, the Deputy Municipal Director of Agriculture, said through the efforts of the Assembly several farmers in the municipality have received free cocoa, cashew and palm oil seedlings as well as other agricultural inputs as part of the government’s Planting for Export and Rural Development (PERD) project.
He added that agricultural extension officers have introduced rice farmers in the area to improve methods of farming, adding that the government interventions programmes on agriculture had helped the municipality to produce the 2019 National Best Farmer.
The Deputy Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, Mr. Collins Augustine Ntim, who was in the municipality to monitor the impact of coronavirus reiterated the government’s commitment to reducing the impact of virus on business.
Emmanuel Akwasi-Wiafe-Boateng, ISD
