Senior Minister Mr J.H. Mensah has noted farmers in developed countries were wealthy and it was about time Ghanaian farmers redoubled their efforts to eliminate poverty from their midst.

He was addressing a durbar of chiefs and people of Techiman after a sod-cutting ceremony for the construction of a cassava starch and chips processing factory at Tadieso, near Techiman in Brong Ahafo Region.

The factory is to be constructed by Essieco Enterprise, a private Company, based in Sunyani with an initial loan of 2.5 million dollars contracted through the National Investment Bank (NIB).

The Senior Minister observed: "Farmers of old were better in terms of wealth than today's farmers, because most of the buildings and other valuable properties we see in our cities and towns were acquired by them".

He said he could not understand why Ghanaians with so much available fertile land should go hungry "while our neighbours who are not as fortunate as we are, should have abundance of food".

Mr Mensah said the New Patriotic Party (NPP), which was proud to be called a party for the rural communities, would do all that it could to encourage farmers to produce more.

He commended the Management of Essieco Enterprise for supporting the President's Special Initiative on Cassava and advised the youth in the Region to cultivate enough cassava to feed the factory.

The Senior Minister appealed to chiefs and landowners to avoid litigation over land and to release plots of land to those interested in farming.

Mr Yaw Adjei-Duffour, Deputy Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, who Presided, lauded the decision of the private company to take the initiative to establish the factory in the Region.

He advised the managers to handle activities at the factory professionally by employing competent personnel.

The Deputy Regional Minister called for assistance for farmers in the catchment areas to expand their farms to feed the factory for its sustainability.

In a speech read for Major Courage Quashigah, Minister of Food and Agriculture, he stated that the Ministry had for the past two and half years pursued a very vigorous path of policy change and direction to create an environment for sustainable growth and development.

He said this would ensure food and raw material security, higher employment, reduction in poverty and the creation of wealth and greater contribution of the agriculture sector to GDP, foreign exchange earnings and government revenue.

"Indeed, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture in its overall mission statement, seeks to promote thriving agribusiness and its contribution to this is to guarantee a sustained raw material base."

The Minister stated that Brong Ahafo Region was noted for its large production of cassava, saying the Region produced 2.2 million tonnes of the crop in 2001 and in 2002 due to the very favourable rainfall, it produced about 3.2 million tonnes, he added.

He said the production figures did not include cassava produced under the Roots and Tubers Improvement Programme (RTIP) sponsored farms, which he said had more than 404 hectares cultivated under-tertiary farms and about 121 hectares under secondary farms.

In Techiman, there are enough planting cassava materials to cultivate about 162 hectares at no cost to the farmers, the Minister said.

Mr John Kwadwo Acheampong, Managing Director of Essieco Enterprise, said to sustain the industry, the company had registered 2,300 out-growers to cultivate and feed the factory with cassava and more would be registered.

He said he was hooked to the President's Special Initiative in 2001 and the industry had plans to employ 317 direct labourers with over 10,000 indirect labourers.

Mr Acheampong expressed appreciation to the Senior Minister and Mr Kwame Pianim, Chief Executive of New World Investment Limited, for their immense contributions towards the establishment of the project.