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AGRICULTURE

Gov’t to establish agro-industrial processing zone in Builsa South

The Government of Ghana has earmarked a 30,000 acre land in the Builsa South District of the Upper East Region to establish an Agro-Industrial Processing Zone to add value to agricultural products.

Date Created : 5/15/2023 12:00:00 AM : Story Author : NewsGhana/Ghanadistricts.com

The initiative forms part of a 10-point development agenda to create industrial zones in all 16 regions of Ghana.

Dr. John H. Asiedu, a Technical Advisor at the Ministry of Trade and Industry, disclosed this when he led a team of Consultants to call on the Upper East Regional Minister, Mr Stephen Yakubu as part of their working visit to the Builsa South District.

He said the initiative formed part of the Eastern Corridor Road Project with a loan facility of USD 500, 000 from the African Development Bank for feasibility studies.

The Technical Advisor said the feasibility project would create economic activities along the Eastern Corridor Road, identify land size for crops with comparative advantage, infrastructure among others.

He added that the objective of the project was to decongest the concentration of industries in the southern Ghana, and evenly distribute factories across the country.

“As part of its implementation process, government found out that the northern sector, particularly the Builsa South area is well endowed with huge cereals and other agricultural products which can give us a comparative advantage of its mass potential in agriculture even where possible to fall on Upper West and Burkina Faso to augment the raw material base of the industries in the region,” he said.

Ms. U. Sangeetha, a Senior Urban Planner-Eco-Industrial Parks from Mahindra Consulting Engineers, said the ongoing feasibility study would develop a master plan to assess the natural resources to enable them site a comparative advantage industrial parks along the Eastern Corridor Road from Volta through Oti Regions to Kulumgugu in the Upper East Region.

She added that as part of the process, there would be Agricultural Transformation Centres; a centralized zones in each region to provide some mechanization support to farmers to increase their production.

Receiving the team on behalf of the Minister, the Chief Director of the Regional Coordinating Council, Alhaji Inusah Abubakari described the project as a good initiative for the region.

He said the Region was endowed with a lot of natural resources including the Tono, Vea, Tamne Irrigation facilities and with vast arable land considering the quantum of farming activities in Builsa South District alone.

He said the Pwalugu Multi-purpose Dam which was yet to be constructed, had a total of 25 hectares of irrigable land, noting that “The region is better positioned to take full advantage of this project.”

Alhaji Inusah urged the Consultants to consider the Out -Grower concept to stop the importation of crops such as tomatoes that could be produced at cheaper cost but heavily imported from Burkina Faso even though it has comparative advantage in the production process.