Artist Impression Of The Faactory
The Ghana Export and Import (EXIM) Bank has approved GH¢7.7 million to finance the Ekumfi Fruits & Juices Company Limited located at Ekumfi Abor in the Central Region.
The first tranche has already been released and spent on the acquisition of implements such as tractors, tricycles and pickups for operations for the first phase of the project.
Machinery for the factory is being procured and should be ready for shipment to Ghana soon.
The National Coordinator for the ‘One District, One-Factory (1D1F),’ Gifty Ohene-Konadu, who confirmed this, said installation of the machinery for the factory would commence in the first quarter of 2018.
She was giving an update on the company and the outlook for 2018.
The contractor, consultant and engineers are already on site in preparation for the necessary excavation and levelling works for the construction of the factory building.
Additionally, 600 out-growers who have been registered and their parcels of land verified, have been grouped on block farms in four different communities for training.
Training for the first batch, comprising 80 farmers from Ekumfi Ayisam, she said, was held on Tuesday, December 19, 2017, with the remaining batches expected to receive theirs before the end of this month.
Mrs. Ohene-Konadu is confident that construction of the factory building will be completed on schedule.
Touching on the outlook for 2018, she disclosed that three agro-processing projects are ready for sod cutting following their successful passage through evaluation at the 1D1F Secretariat and their subsequent approval by the banks.
The projects include Amantin Agro-Processing Plant, Asikess Ventures Limited and Kpetsu, Adaklu Agro-Processing Plant – all of which will wholly rely on cassava for production.
Apart from that, the secretariat has forwarded 60 business plans and proposals to some participating financial institutions to study; 28 of such proposals have been submitted to GCB Bank and the remaining to Ghana EXIM Bank.
The business plans, she added, were submitted between October 6 and 21 December, 2017.
Ten additional projects have also been submitted to the African Development Bank (AfDB) for infrastructural support.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu