Revamp factories in Upper East Region

Bolgatanga, Jan. 26, GNA - Mr. John Akaribo, a former assembly member for Nyariga-Done electoral area in the Upper East Region, urged government to revamp abandoned factories and economic ventures in the region.

He mentioned the Zuarungu Meat Factory, the Bolgatanga Rice Mills, and several fishponds at Tono and Vea dams as some of the ventures that required reactivation.

Mr. Akaribo in an interview with GNA in Bolgatanga at the weekend, said the inability of successive governments to revamp those ventures in the area resulted in the migration of the youth to the southern part of Ghana in search of jobs, with its attendant social problems. He said even though the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Government promised to revamp factories in the region, it only tackled the Pwalugu Tomato Factory, now Northern Star Tomato Cannery.

Mr. Akaribo said " This alone cannot take adequate care of the high unemployment situation in the region".

He said since 1992 some presidential candidates had promised to reactivate factories in the region but did not fulfil their pledges. Mr. Akaribo said " Fortunately the two dominant political parties, NPP and National Democratic Congress (NDC) have had the opportunity to resuscitate these factories which are the life-wire of the people in the area but they failed to do so."

Mr. Akaribo stressed that the NDC Government should show practical commitment to the unemployment problem in the region by revamping factories there.

He urged government to build facilities for the storage of vegetables such as onions, tomatoes, lettuce, pepper, garden eggs among others, which were being produced in large quantities in the region. Mr. Akaribo said fish farming used to be a widely patronized occupation in the 1970s, when interested persons in the area acquired ponds in the two largest dams at the Tono and Vea dams. He said " But now only a hand full of people show interest in fish farming because the inputs and encouragement needed for the venture is not forthcoming from government."

Mr. Akaribo said farmers in the region needed loan with flexible terms, subsidized farm inputs, access to land and market to encourage them to venture into farming.

He urged the youth in the region to go into farming since there were numerous advantages in the activity. 26 Jan. 09