The government’s flagship program, the One District, One Factory which is to create jobs and alleviate the rate of poverty in the districts and communities is beginning to gain grounds.
The Alliance for Development and Industrialization, (ADI) checks has revealed that the Ekumfi Juice Factory, which is near completion would create 5000 direct out-grower jobs within the community and its environment.
In a press statement issued in Accra and signed by Godwin Arthur, Convener of the group said the factory would process about 300,000,000 packs of juice annually for the local and export markets and would generate close to GHC530 million in revenue.
The facility will be the biggest Pineapple juice processing factory in West Africa, with the capacity to process 10 tons of fruits per hour.
“The Ekumfi Juice Factory is currently the largest Pineapple juice processing factory in West Africa and it has put Ghana on the international radar with regard to competition of fruit juice products on the export market”, the statement said
“ADI has learnt that the juice that would be produced at the factory would not be made from concentrate, and also there would be no additives added, putting the product ahead of its competitors”. It said.
“We at ADI attached ourselves to the commitment of the chiefs and people to this project so much which makes it imperative that this project has come to stay. ADI has continued to monitor all these and can attest to the fact that the Ekumfi Project would be one of the largest source of revenue to this country”, it said.
According to the ADI, If the government could replicate such projects in 10 regions, the country would accrue a total revenue of GHC5.3 billion a year. “We again commend the government for shortest 18months duration for the construction of this factory. For our records such a thing has never happened in the history of this country,” it said.
“We are of the view that with the district and community partnership, the factory would transform the lives of the people,” it said.
The Ekumfi Pineapple Processing Factory is the first factory to be constructed under the government’s ‘One District One Factory’ project.
The factory is sited on a 50-acre land and has 100-metres length and 50-metres width of factory floor space large enough for additional production works.