The company, which is currently into rice production, is poised to expand its tentacles to cover crop production like cassava, maize, sorghum, soya and cashew.

The company invested in the Worawora Rice Mill based in the Northern part of the Volta Region, in 2016, and has since replaced the milling equipment with new ones.

This mill currently produces 100 metric tons of rice a day. The company is in the process of building one more mill in the Central Region, and another one in the Northern Region so as to increase its production capacity to 300 metric tonnes a day by the end of 2018.

In December 2017, the company sold some of its rice to an American based charity, which is supporting about 18 missions across the country.

The charity organisation has been supporting several orphanages and other charity projects across the country. According to Mr. Percival Ofori Ampomah, the US based charity was formerly importing about 274 metric tons of rice into Ghana for consumption, but has now stopped the rice importation after building a relationship with Groupe Nduom Foods.

The tremendous role that the company is currently playing in the country cannot be over emphasized.

“We have seen a very high rate of imports, which is not good for the economy. Ghana, in 2016 alone, imported close to 2 billion dollars worth of food – in a country that has plenty of land, very highly qualified people, and plenty of skills. Though some personnel are not trained, at least you have people who are able to operate machinery. So, why is this happening in Ghana? It’s a clear example of the Dutch disease. This is something that needs to be addressed,” World Bank Country Director for Ghana, Henry Kerali, made these statements at a stakeholders’ forum organised by the American Chamber of Commerce, Ghana recently.

These sentiments can also be backed by statistics from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), which shows that more than 60% of rice consumed in Ghana is imported, and this puts a huge pressure on the country’s foreign exchange reserves thereby also putting pressure on the Ghana cedi.

It is against this backdrop that Groupe Nduom Foods has targeted, and is already making inroads with the addition of other mills to increase rice production so that millions dollars of import bills can be substituted.

“As we build more factories and expand processing capacity, we increase our demand for paddy rice, which means more work for local farmers and most importantly more money to the farmers to support their families. While these factories themselves will create a large number of jobs for the local communities in which they are cited, the real gains in terms of employment will come from the impact our out grower operations will have on the farmers and the farming communities,” General Manager, Mr. Ampomah further explained.

He said these are some of the strategies and steps that the company has put in place to lead in the transformation of the food manufacturing industry to become an exporter in the near future.

The company is optimistic that by making such strategic investments, it will help create a trail for other investors to follow and invest in the sector and build more factories and expand processing capacity.
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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Groupe Nduom makes inroads in food manufacturing industry appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show, Mr. Ampomah suggested what he termed a comprehensive approach to boosting local rice production in Ghana.

He was optimistic rice production in Ghana can be up-scaled if government and other key investors decide to channel more resources to that sector.

Though he indicated that an active role by these two players could reduce rice importation, Mr. Ampomah was quick to add that, these efforts should be complemented with a rigorous sensitization on locally produced rice, and a constant irrigation of farm lands across the country.

Mr. Ampomah admitted that, though successive governments have always been committing some sort of efforts into reducing the importation of rice, the dream of drastically reducing rice importation can be achieved if the above mentioned suggestions are considered.

“The good news is that, there are irrigated lands that are lying there, that are not being used so the potential is considerably great and production can be up-scaled to the extent where we can get that 70 percent mark. I will say that, if government or anybody wants to support that effort [Reducing rice importation], it is possible and we can do that. We can actually do this in five years or even less than that. Once we develop these irrigated farms, we will be able to produce enough to replace the importation. We can get a very good percentage produced locally. But more investors need to come on the field in terms of agriculture. Also on the market, more people need to sensitize Ghanaians about eating local rice and the nutritional content ..It is a comprehensive approach.”

Rice import costs Ghana US$500m annually

In 2016, the Director of Finance and Administration at the John Agyekum Kufuor Foundation, Victor Kufuor, revealed that Ghana was spending  500 million dollars every year through the importation of rice.

Mr. Kufuor said this posed serious challenges to local rice production, making it noncompetitive in the local markets.

He said the taste for foreign goods by Ghanaians have grown in recent times, affecting the country’s balance of trade.

“We are importing over 500 million dollars worth of foreign rice. Why should we do that? Even some of the countries we are mentioning we probably are even better than them,” he said. The statistics comes at a time when the Trade Ministry is campaigning for Ghanaians to embrace and promote ‘Made in Ghana Goods’.”

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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @EfeAnsah

The post Ghana can halt rice importation – Worawora Ricemill appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.