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Nkwanta South to get US$25m starch processing factory

An estimated US$25 million starch manufacturing factory is expected to be established in the Nkwanta South district of the Volta Region by private investors.

Date Created : 6/14/2018 8:33:37 AM : Story Author : Christian Kpesese/ ghanadistricts.com

The project scheduled for completion within 12 months will provide jobs for some 24,000 out-grower farmers that would be engaged for the initial 4,800 hectares which will be increased further to 10,000 hectares (25,000 acres) of farmland leased for 50 years for the development of the industrial cassava plantation.

Speaking at the memorandum of understanding signing ceremony between GMC Universal Ghana Limited and KORAT SW Group of Thailand in Accra, PROJECT Consultant, Kojo Ahlidzah said cassava starch factory was chosen because it performs different roles for different people in Ghana, and there has been a significant global market for dehydrated cassava that is boosting production with new market opportunities.

Cassava he said served as a rural staple food, convenient food for urban dwellers, industrial raw material, cash crop, and foreign exchange earner given its high demand on the world stage.

“As a nation we have been importing the starch and a number of companies are being encouraged to go into the starch business. It is arising from that the Project promoter took the initiative with his business consultants and lawyers to come up with the idea of setting up a starch processing factory at Nkwanta South”, he said.

The block farmers will receive mechanization among other support services in order to enhance their production levels in the plantation which is expected to be sited beside the factory to ensure constant supply of raw material.

He also added that in the light of previous experience of challenges in getting adequate feed stock, a decision was made to set it up in Nkwanta South, where there are large tracts of land to go into cassava plantation purposely for the factory.

Mr Ahlijah also explained that one of the driving factors to go into starch was based on research by a division of NEPAD of the African Union, which commissioned a study by the International Firm of Consultants on the Cassava market opportunities in Ghana, Mozambique and Nigeria, and was established that Ghana locally needs over 200,000 metric tonnes of starch which can easily be produced out of cassava.

Furthermore, he stated that once the factory is set up, there will be a need for government intervention to support the infrastructural deficit in the area, which he reckons has been the major challenges of agro-processing companies.

Available data also indicates that the country produces about 16 million metric tonnes of cassava of which about 11 million tonnes is available for human consumption.

However, only four million tonnes of the cassava available for human consumption is consumed leaving over seven million tonnes as surplus.

It is against this background that, GMC Universal Ghana Limited and KORAT SW Group of Thailand have entered into an agreement for the manufacture and installation of 200 tons a day starch processing plant at Nkwanta South, Volta Region.

Mr. Nanan Olivier Kablan, the CEO signed on behalf of GMC Universal Ghana Ltd and Mr Suchart Chuveeradach signed on behalf of KORAT SW Group of Thailand.

GMC Universal Ghana Limited secured the funding from COSMOS International of India.

A former Member of Parliament for Nkwanta South, Gershon Gbediame represented the Landowners at the signing ceremony.

KORAT is the largest manufacturer of cassava turnkey starch processing plants in Thailand and South East Asia and since 1995 have delivered an average 3 processing plants per year.

They already have an agreement with Asikess Ventures Limited at Begoro-Aburaso, under the One District One Factory Programme, funded by Ghana EXIMBANK, to manufacture and install 100 tons a day cassava starch processing plant.

The Statistics, Research and Information Directorate (SRID) of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture 2013-2014 report said cassava has traditionally been consumed in the form of fresh cassava roots and processed products such as Gari, Kokonte, Agbelema amongst others.

Incomes from cassava production and post-harvest processing of cassava represent around one fifth (22 percent) of Ghana’s agricultural GDP.