Madam Agnes Anamoo, District Chief Executive of Nabdam, in the Upper East Region, on Wednesday suggested the establishment of an oil factory in the District to harness all the oil resource products produced in the area.
This she noted should be done under the government’s flagship programme to construct a factory in each district.
She said the area was endowed with all the raw materials to produce cooking oil and for other industrial use because about 90 percent of the people were farmers and engaged in shea-nut, groundnut, soya-bean, and vegetable cultivation.
When this is done, she said it would promote food security and empower the people economically in the district to improve on their livelihoods.
The Integrated Oil Mill, she indicated would involve three lines of oil production from three main crops including groundnuts, shea-nuts, and soya-beans, and would depend on these local raw materials from the district and beyond to raise the income levels of rural households in the district.
Madam Anamoo made the suggestion in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Nangode, the district capital, and reiterated that the area was endowed with lots of vegetable raw materials and said if such a facility is accorded the district, it would provide good opportunities to farmers in the area.
She said sheabutter was becoming an important commodity on the international market and the shea trees were abundant in forests in the district and mostly left uncollected, “they go rotten and decay because of the lack of factory in the area to process them”.
Madam Anamoo observed that there was a steady reduction in the cultivation of groundnuts, Soya beans and the collection of Sheanut fruits in recent times and attributed it to the lack of available market and limited demand for these products in their current states, low prices as well as the issues of transportation and storage.
She said the creation of a factory for the processing of the products would add value to take care of all the bottlenecks and revamp and expand the cultivation of the crops because of the interest and passion farmers in the area had for the production of the crops.
She explained that when an oil Mill is established in the area, it would increase interest in the collection and demand for the processing of the shea into butter which would invariably provide opportunities for the collection of the fruits and increase the economic powers of women.
Madam Anamoo mentioned that the groundnuts and soya-bean would also encourage the use of arable land cultivation across the district and contribute to economic benefits to the people and therefore called on stakeholders to see the project as a viable one and contribute towards its establishment to raise incomes of shea, groundnuts and soya-beans farmers who are largely women.
Source: GNA
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