President Akufo-Addo being briefed by George Darkwah (right), Deputy Manager, during a tour of the facility
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo yesterday commissioned a $23 million dollars tomato processing factory at Afienya in the Shai Osudoku Constituency of the Greater Accra Region as part of government’s “One District, One Factory (1D1F)” initiative.
The whole Doryumu town in the Shai Osudoku Traditional Area went haywire when the President arrived to cut the tape for the factory to commence business.
The tomato processing factory, Leefound Food Stuff Ghana Limited, is located at the biggest free zones and industrial park in the West African sub-region.
Even before he arrived at the venue for the programme, residents of the area had besieged the place amid drumming and dancing, with chants of ‘Four More For Nana!’
They could not hide their excitement on seeing the President and his convoy arrive at the location as they swamped his vehicle to shake hands with him for creating the opportunity for them to find jobs.
President Akufo-Addo promised the chiefs and people that his government would do whatever it takes to develop the area.
He was particularly excited about the siting of the factory in the Shai Osudoku District and expressed the hope that the chiefs and people would help the company grow.
For him, the decision to set up the factory under the 1D1F initiative and many others was an expression of confidence in Ghana by the government and people of China, and expressed hope that it would bring many more investments into the country.
“I want you to give our Chinese friends and promoters your maximum support and co-operation so that they can make a success of this investment,” President Akufo-Addo said.
Minister
The Minister of Trade and Industry, Alan Kyeremanten, said Ghana has one of the highest per capital consumption of tomatoes and added that in 2018 alone almost $100 million dollars worth of fresh tomatoes mostly from Burkina Faso were brought in.
“The importation of processed tomatoes is even a multiple of what we import compared to fresh tomatoes. So you can understand that there is a major opportunity for import substitution in Ghana for tomatoes and tomato products and that is why we must commend and celebrate what we are doing,” he stressed.
Leefound Food Stuff is into the production of tin tomatoes for export covering an area of about 60,000 square metres, including comprehensive production workshop, finished products warehouse, raw materials warehouse, packaging materials warehouse and office buildings.
The factory now has three tomato paste filling production lines and their auxiliary production equipment with an estimated annual output of 54,000 tons of tomato paste.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondent