By Liberty Amewode
The non-traditional export sector needs massive infrastructural investment in order to increase production to meet the high demand by consumers abroad.
Currently, only 4,000 tonnes, out of the 10,000 tonnes of pineapple demanded by markets across Europe can be produced.
And according to Mr. Edward Twum, Managing Director of Prudent Exports, pineapple exporters, huge infrastructural investments including logistics, transport and right roads are required to reap the full benefits of this sector.
He said the government needed to come to the aid of commercial farmers since the venture required huge investment which no man alone can pool enough resources to realize.
“Many of my colleagues have had to fold up for lack of support”, he told the Business Analyst on the sidelines of a tour by the Minister of Trade and Industry, Hanna Tetteh, of his facility at Bawjease near Kasoa in the Central Region.
The minister had gone to acquaint herself with the operations of the farm and to listen to the challenges faced by the industry.
Giving a background to his business, Mr. Twum said the switch from Smooth Cayenne, a pineapple variety, to MD2, the preferred species in supermarkets across Europe, had come with enormous challenges but stated that the situation was normalizing.
The changeover to MD2, which began 5 years ago, commenced with 200,000 suckers but the farm can now boast of over five million plants covering close to 300 Hectares of the 700-Hectare farm.
He called for injection of more money into the Export Development and Investment Fund (EDIF) and implored authorities of the fund to expand their scope and offer their services to more Ghanaians who are interested in large scale farming.
The MD used the opportunity to hint of plans to institute a programme of internship for young graduates who want to take up farming as a career. According to him, Africa can only prosper if “we go back to till the land”.
The minister, Hanna Tetteh, said the government was committed to improving the non-traditional export sector by empowering serious individuals to expand their businesses.
She acknowledged the huge investment involved in that venture and assured of the government’s support, saying they were looking at creating better marketing opportunities for farm produce.
She said agriculture did not just involve farming but also entailed all the processes of seed improvement, production, haulage and marketing of agricultural produce.
The minister’s next stop was the Ayensu Starch Company in Bawjease, where she was the guest in a special durbar of staff and management of the company.
She commended them for their steadfastness to support the government to resurrect the factory, which is expected to begin operations early next year.
The Logistics Coordinator, Mr. Sampson Abbey Armah, said the company had, as part of the revamping strategy, successfully organized the cropping of 3000 acres of cassava to feed the factory for the commencement of starch production.
“2,000 acres was collectively cultivated by out-growers while 1,000 acres was cultivated by the company’s farm operations division across four districts, that is, West Akim, Awutu Senya, Agona East and Gomoa East” he stated.
He said the company’s nucleus farm operations had offered employment to about 300 young men and women within the project’s catchment area, envisaging an increase when production begins.
Mr. Armah believes some farmers are only waiting to see the commencement of the factory operations to join the company in the mobilization of raw materials.
He said the recent visit in August this year of the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Mahama Ayariga, sufficed by media announcements of the revamping of the company resulted in the inflow of proposals and orders for cassava products from both local and foreign companies.
He stated that even though the start-up production capacity is currently set at 30 per cent, efforts are underway to increase production within a short period, reaching full capacity by 2013. “This could be achieved through the expansion of the raw materials supply base”, he added.