Akufo-Addo Inspects $16m Tomato Processing Factory In Berekum

President Akufo Addo, as part of his two day visit to the Bono Region on Thursday, inspected ongoing work on the construction of the $16 million Weddi Africa tomato processing factory located in Domfete, in Berekum. The factory, a project operating under Government’s 1 District 1 Factory initiative, is a wholly owned Ghanaian

company, which will have an installed capacity to process 40,000 metric tons of fresh tomato per annum. This translated into 720 crates of tomatoes per shift per day, with the factory also possessing a 500 metric ton cold room facility to hold fresh tomato fruits. The company has established a 2,400 acre farm land as

nucleus farm, and also spearheaded the establishment of the Tomato Out grower Farmers Association in Tano North and Berekum West Districts, with 2,000 registered farmers from Ahafo and Bono regions. Indeed, the 2,000 farmers are on schedule to receive seeds, fertilizers and other inputs and technical services from

the relevant MDAs, with these mechanisms all put in place to ensure the sustainability of the factory. Akufo Addo was informed that, once fully completed, the factory will create about 186 direct jobs, with more than 3,000 indirect job opportunities in the Berekum West District and other surrounding communities. President

assured, is committed to supporting private sector operators like Weddi Africa Limited to position themselves to become globally competitive, and, thereby, also take advantage of market opportunities presented by the African Continental Free Trade Area AfCFTA, whose Secretariat has been established and

commissioned in Accra. He told the gathering that the Government has established institutional mechanism to provide strategic support and assistance to the domestic private sector operating at the district level. “I refer to the Business Resource Centres which have been established in 67 Districts across the country, 30 of which have already commenced operations. The 1D1F companies will benefit from the assistance to be

provided by the BRCs,” he added. He commended the promoters of Weddi Africa Ltd. for establishing such a modern facility in Domfete, Berekum, in support of Government’s Industrial Transformation Agenda, and appealed to Nananom and residents to give their maximum co-operation to the promoters of the business, to ensure their success, which, he explained, will be the success of Nananom and residents as well.