The Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs has contracted the GRATIS Foundation to manufacture 200 gari processing machines at a cost of 1.48 billion cedis for distribution to women farmers.

The machines, to cost 7.4 million cedis each, include cassava grinders, formulation and cassava dough packing stands, gari double screw pressers and gari dough sifters.

The Deputy Executive Director, (Technical) of GRATIS Foundation, Mr Sheini M. Abu-Bakar, made this known when the Minister of Women and Children's Affairs, Mrs Gladys Asmah, visited the Koforidua Technology Transfer Centre (KTTC) to inspect progress of work on the machines.

Mr Abu-Bakar said the machines are being built in the seven regional branches of the GRATIS Foundation and that this has created employment to over 460 technicians and supervisors.He said when the machines are delivered the Foundation would continue to monitor and rehabilitate broken ones and give training to the women groups to maintain and repair them.

Mrs Asmah said she was impressed with the job so far done by the KTTC and hoped the machines would be delivered on schedule.

She expressed government's commitment to improve the lot of women in the country under the President's Special Initiatives programme.

Mrs Asmah said about 13,000 women farmers' groups in the country had been given 500,000 cedis loans each to expand their enterprises under the Ministry of Women Affairs' Development Fund.She said with the good quality work of the Foundation, her Ministry would continue to place orders for more of such machines for its women's groups.

Mrs Asmah said the Eastern and Western regions would each be allocated with 30 of the machines, Brong-Ahafo and Volta regions 35 each and Greater Accra and Central regions 25 each and Ashanti Region 20.