Value addition to agriculture gets a boost in Ghana

By Johan Burger

President Nana Akufo-Addo recently commissioned the Weddi Africa Tomato Processing Factory in the town of Domfete, under the 1-District-1-Factory initiative. The government facilitated a loan of US$16m to support the establishment and operations of the factory.

Domfete is a major centre for the cultivation of fresh tomatoes. The factory will process some 40,000 tons of fresh tomatoes annually and will have such facilities as a 500-ton cold room facility, a model farm and research centre designed to conduct seed trials and train farmers on best farming practices, and an agriculture shop to supply inputs to the farmers at affordable prices. The latter is in effect a form of an agricultural coop, which is used with great success in countries such as South Africa.

The factory has created 158 direct jobs, in addition to 2100 indirect job opportunities for the people in the district and surrounding communities. The job creation effect of the factory has the benefit of curbing the rural-urban migration in the country, helping the government’s attempts to develop the rural regions, and reducing the pressure on urban facilities and services.

Supporting private sector companies is part of the Ghanaian government’s strategy to make these companies not only globally competitive, but also successful within the AfCFTA.

 

Additional reading:

Anon. 2021. President Akufo-Addo commissions US$16mn tomato processing factory in Ghana. African Farming and Food Processing. 19 August 2021. Available at https://www.africanfarming.net/crops/processing-storage/president-akufo-addo-commissions-us-16mn-tomato-processing-factory-in-ghana.  Accessed 20 September 2021.