The Deputy Minister designate for Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, Sampson Ahi, has pledged to see to the establishment of a cocoa processing company in the Western North Region before his tenure as a deputy minister ends.
He said the factory would help to process the huge volumes of cocoa beans produced in the cocoa growing area to ensure that the country, as well as farmers derived maximum benefit from their sweat.
“As captured in the NDC manifesto, we will embark on industrialisation and I will be happy to see that by the end of my tenure, we will have a cocoa processing company in the Western North so that cocoa beans can be processed there,” Mr Ahi said.
Event
The nominee said this when he appeared before the Appointments Committee of Parliament last Monday. He gave an assurance that he would also look at other areas in the region that had a competitive advantage in setting up factories for the processing of farm produce.
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He said this in response to a question by a member of the committee who wanted him to tell members his areas of concern in terms of trade facilitation.
Value addition
On the linkage between agricultural produce and processing, Mr Ahi said there was the need to add value, including packaging of the produce, to make them attractive and marketable for the local and international markets.
“Given the nod, I will support my minister to work so that the President’s objective of adding value to agricultural produce will be achieved,” he said.
About support to the garment sector, the nominee said: “Considering the number of employment the textile industry offers, as a government we would look for strategic partners to support us produce textiles to create employment and wealth for our country”.
Answering a question on the need for Free Zones to move away from export-oriented free zones to special economic zones, Mr Ahi said before that could be done, the Free Zones Act which established the Free Zones Board must first be looked at.
“I will recommend to my minister to amend the law to incorporate economic zones if that is the way,” he said.
