”Moonlight”, Burns Brightest In The Green Economy
Owners of the company called ”Moonlight Fresco Limited” say their outfit talks little and acts more. That is why the company is not common to people but has deeds to show.
Lying on the periphery of the South Tongu District of the Volta region of Ghana, the Indian-owned Ghanaian company started operations in 2018. It was in response to the government’s campaign for foreign direct investments. Then Moonlight came. The company acquired 3,000 hectares of land and went into commercial farming. 1,200 hectares are currently under cultivation. Crops are okra and banana.
The company says, it commands 80 percent of the market share in Europe. It has an off-taker arrangement with clients, supermarkets, and other retail outlets. A chunk of the exports goes to the United Kingdom. None of the company’s wares is directed to the local market.
Banana is said to be a product in hot demand on the export market. Okra is also one of the most desirable farm produce worldwide.
Throwing more light on their operations, the Director of the company, Mr. Prateek Chaudhary first expressed gratitude to the government for granting the terms and the enabling environment for businesses to thrive. He said, the crop varieties being cultivated on plantation farms are hybrids that do well in the tropical weather of Ghana. The farms are fended by irrigation water mixed with liquid fertilizer. Explaining farm technology, he said aluminum foils are used to seal off the base of the Okra plants to maintain moisture and prevent weeds from competing for soil nutrients.
The company employs local people to harvest the okra. It says most of the community members working on the farms are not grounded in agronomic practices so the company bends backward to educate the workers to enhance their professionalism.
The Chairman of the Fruits and Vegetables Producers Association of Ghana, Mr. Amponsah-Mensah said, there is a lot of money in Ghana and that part can be found in the soil, especially turning fallow lands into productive uses. According to him, north Africa and the middle east are some of the places where fruits and vegetables are in demand. They are used in the production of fruit juices.
Advanced countries in the northern hemisphere source supplies of agricultural farm produce in Africa which has vast arable lands. This one and a few others operating in Ghana highlight a quiet, flourishing business where unused lands in Africa become the cropping fields for the foreign metropolis with land too limited for open-air agriculture. The multinationals with heavier investment portfolios, therefore, invest in agriculture in Africa and export to global destinations. A premise of this fact was perhaps issued by Ghana’s Leader Nana Akufo-Addo who stated at the United Nations in September 2022 in New York, that Africa commands 60 per cent of the world’s arable lands.
Reports say East Africa has a comparative advantage in the production of chillies and other veggies due to favorable weather and targeted investments. In business, you do not wade into the waters of the big fish. You start from the grey area where you can pioneer and develop into an empire, ultimately becoming a big fish in the sphere of your mastery.