Komenda Sugar Factory: Give farmers good prices – Annan

The government of Ghana has been urged to offer sugarcane farmers who will sell their produce to the revamped Komenda Sugar Factory in the Central Region a good price in order to sustain the partnership between the farmers and the factory.

A former Deputy Minister of Trade in late President John Evans Atta Mills’ administration, Dr. Joseph Samuel Annan has noted that one of the things that may have caused the collapse of the sugar factory before it was revamped was that the farmers supplying the sugarcanes felt they were not getting good prices, hence they stopped supplying the raw materials for processing.

It would be recalled that soon after the inauguration of the factory by President Mahama, the Minister of Trade, Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, revealed that in addition to buying from outgrows, the government would acquire lands to cultivate sugarcane to feed the factory.

He emphasised: “The factory intends to acquire more lands, and chiefs in the Central and Western Regions have all been invited to offer lands that the factory could own for purposes of feeding the [plant] as well as buying from ordinary farmers who are outgrowing but who will enter into an agreement with the factory. So, until the factory gets enough of its own land [to cultivate], it will continue to depend mostly on out growers like it is doing now to feed the factory,” he explained.

But speaking in an interview with Prince Minkah, host of the Executive Breakfast Show (EBS) on Class 91.3 FM Tuesday, June 14, 2016, Dr. Annan said: “What is important is [for the government to] debunk the notion that no thinking had gone into the production of the raw material.”

He added: “We all know that farmers need to…see something in place before they will engage themselves. …I give you the reverse scenario whereby when the factory in the olden days was not giving them the right price so they stopped production.”