President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Thursday, September 10 inspected ongoing work on the construction of the $16 million Weddi Africa Tomato Processing Factory located in Domfete, in Berekum, Bono East Region.
The factory, a project operating under Government’s 1-District-1-Factory initiative, is a wholly Ghanaian-owned company, which will have an installed capacity to process 40,000 metric tons of fresh tomato per annum. This translates into 720 crates of tomatoes per shift per day, with the factory also possessing a 500-metric ton cold room facility to hold fresh tomato fruits.
The company has established a 2,400-acre farm land as a nucleus farm, and also spearheaded the establishment of the Tomato Out-grower Farmers Association in Tano North and Berekum West Districts, with 2,000 registered farmers from Ahafo and Bono regions.
Indeed, the 2,000 farmers are on schedule to receive seeds, fertilizers and other inputs and technical services from the relevant MDAs, with these mechanisms all put in place to ensure the sustainability of the factory.
President Akufo-Addo was informed that once fully completed, the factory will create about 186 direct jobs, with more than 3,000 indirect job opportunities in the Berekum West District and other surrounding communities.
Government, the President assured, is committed to supporting private sector operators like Weddi Africa Limited to position themselves to become globally competitive, and, thereby, also take advantage of market opportunities presented by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), whose Secretariat has been established and commissioned in Accra.
Further, he told the gathering that government has established an institutional mechanism to provide strategic support and assistance to the domestic private sector operating at the district level.
“I refer to the Business Resource Centres which have been established in sixty-seven (67) Districts across the country, thirty (30) of which have already commenced operations. The 1D1F companies will benefit from the assistance to be provided by the BRCs,” he added.
He commended the promoters of Weddi Africa Ltd. for establishing such a modern facility in Domfete, Berekum, in the Bono Region, in support of government’s Industrial Transformation Agenda, and appealed to Nananom and residents to give their maximum co-operation to the promoters of the business, to ensure their success, which, he explained, will be the success of Nananom and residents as well.
Source: 3news.com|Ghana