Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia has noted that the industrialisation drive of the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government is unprecedented in the history of Ghana.
“Since the government of President Kwame Nkrumah, there has been no government with a clear industrial vision but for the government of President Akufo-Addo. We had been seeing closure of factories but under this government we are seeing massive openings of industries,” the Vice-President stated.
Dr Bawumia said this yesterday when he commissioned a pineapple fruit juice processing factory at Nsawam in the Eastern Region. The project is under the government’s One District, One Factory (1D1F) initiative.
He noted that the 1D1F initiative is a major component of the government’s 10-point industrial transformation agenda.
Dr Bawumia disclosed that there are a total of 232 projects under the 1D1F which are at various stages of implementation, with 76 fully operating and 107 projects at various stages of completion.
Planting for Food and Jobs
Vice-President Bawumia said the vision to sustain most of the factories being built across the country, which are largely food processing factories, was the reason why the Akufo-Addo government initiated the Planting for Foods and Jobs (PFJ) initiative.
“Planting for Food and Jobs was one key policy we brought in to anchor this 1D1F programme. Because you first have to produce a lot of raw materials before you will use them in manufacturing. So Planting for Food and Jobs was our first step in linking agriculture to industrialization,” he noted.
He explained that this is the best way to enhance agricultural productivity, scale up production, add value to what the country produces and create jobs and improve livelihood as a way of building sustainable food security.
Nano Foods
Nano Foods Limited, a pineapple fruit juice processing factory akin to the Ekumfi Fruit Juice factory, is a subsidiary of Astek Group of Companies at Nsawam in the Eastern Region.
The revamped factory was built through a capital support of $1.67 million secured from the Ghana EXIM bank. The revamping of the company commenced in December 2018. The factory, originally opened in the 1980s, was closed down due to non-availability of raw products to facilitate it effective and smooth running.
However, since April this year, the factory has been in operation. It has increased its employment rate from 55 direct jobs to 100 direct jobs, with the hope of employing more when the second phase of the factory is completed.
Decentralization of industries
The Minister of Trade and Industry, Alan Kyerematen, for his part, stated that the government wants to decentralize industrial development and bring industries to the door steps of all Ghanaians, hence the 1D1F.
He stated that, for several decades, all of Ghana’s main factories had been centralised in Accra and Team. He said the 1D1F is therefore meant to break this concept and decentralise the country’s factories.
“And it even goes beyond that: the 1D1F is designed to add value to our natural resources at the base,” he said.
He added that 1D1F is also an opportunity for the government to reduce importation by supporting agro-industrial projects and to help reduce the import bill.
The Minister further noted the initiative is to provide another opportunity for exports, which will earn the country foreign exchange and further support the local currency, thus facilitating the transformation agenda of the country.
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