DCE wants revival of defunct cashew processing factories

Madam Charity Dwomoh, the Tain District Chief Executive (DCE) in the Brong-Ahafo Region has appealed to investors to support and revive the two defunct cashew processing factories in the District.

According to the DCE, the two factories were set-up at Nsawkaw, the District capital, by an Indian international Company, but they were closed down some years ago due to lack of raw materials to feed them.

But, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), Madam. Dwomoh said due to the lucrative nature of the cashew business, almost every household in the District engaged in cashew cultivation and production in commercial quantities.

Initially, she said the District planned to revitalise and owned the factories, but because of the cost involved and limited financial resources it could not do so, hence the need to open up for Public-Private Partnership.

Raw materials, Madam Dwomoh said was a problem in the past, saying greater quantities of cashew nuts harvested in the area during the season were always transported to Sampa in the Jaman North District for sale.

She expressed dissatisfaction with the amount of the Assembly's Internally Generated Fund (IGF), which she said was woefully inadequate to meet the developmental needs of the communities.

To that effect, she said the Assembly had taken data of all the tax payers, particularly traders and artisanal workers in the District to strengthen its revenue mobilisation drive.

She announced that the Assembly was working hard to enter into agreement with Swedish investors to establish a cassava processing plant in the area.

Madam Dwomoh said if the contract was successfully signed, the Assembly would support many of the teeming unemployed youth with logistics and required materials to go into cassava plantation to feed the plant.

This is a huge employment opportunity for the youth, she said and encouraged them to develop interest and engage in commercial farming business.

Madam Dwomoh said the abandonment and deplorable condition of the Degedege Irrigation Dam in the area which was constructed under former President John Agyekum Kufuor's administration was a great worry.

She said rehabilitation of the dam would improve on maize, rice and general food production in the District, and appealed to government to support the Assembly with funds to repair the facility.