By Benjamin Makafui Attipoe, Aveyime
Pressure group, Arise Ghana has commended the government for creating what it describes as an enabling environment for private-sector investment, following a working visit to the ongoing Hari Agri and Foods Ghana Limited sugar processing project near Aveyime in the North Tongu District of the Volta Region.
The six-member Arise Ghana team, led by its spokesperson, Mr Selorm Dramani Dzramado, visited selected ongoing project sites in the district to assess the implementation of government initiatives and ascertain the extent to which beneficiaries were benefiting from them.
Speaking after the visit to the Hari Agri and Foods Ghana Limited project, Mr. Dzramado said the investment had the potential to significantly reduce Ghana’s dependence on imported sugar while creating thousands of direct and indirect employment opportunities.
He said although the project was a private-sector initiative that began under the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration in 2022, the investors had indicated that improvements in the country’s macroeconomic environment and support from the current administration had boosted their confidence to proceed with the investment.
According to him, the company had assured the delegation that it expected to employ about 250 people directly when the plant became fully operational, while generating between 5,000 and 6,000 additional jobs through ancillary activities including sugarcane cultivation, harvesting and transportation. “They are so determined to make a dent in our sugar importation into this country,” Mr. Dzramado said, adding that the development should provide significant opportunities for young people seeking employment. He said addressing youth unemployment remained one of Arise Ghana’s major concerns, particularly among graduates who had remained unemployed for several years.
Mr. Dzramado explained that the group’s involvement in monitoring government projects was not intended to praise the administration but to provide independent feedback on its performance. He said Arise Ghana, which was formed in 2022 and supported the campaign to remove the then governing NPP from power, had a responsibility to monitor the promises made by President John Dramani Mahama and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) while in opposition. “We are not a praise-singing pressure group. We are a critical, independent, objective pressure group helping the government to get access to honest feedback that they will work with,” he stated.
The Managing Director of Hari Agri and Foods Ghana Limited told the delegation that construction of the sugar processing facility was currently 65 to 70 per cent complete, with about 85 per cent of the required materials already received. He attributed delays in the delivery of some materials to disruptions in container supply arising from the recent war, which affected the company’s original completion schedule.
The MD said the company was developing an integrated sugar production system, comprising sugarcane cultivation, processing and the production of value-added by-products. He disclosed that the company had already cultivated approximately 1,000 acres of sugarcane on its own farms and had registered about 600 outgrower farmers from 14 communities around Sogakope, Bleamezado, Trekume and adjoining communities, covering approximately 1,400 acres.
The company, he said, would require substantially more land for sugarcane cultivation in the future and had therefore adopted the outgrower model to secure a reliable supply of raw material.
The Managing Director said the factory would operate three shifts around the clock, in line with the principles of Ghana’s 24-hour economy. He explained that the plant had an initial processing capacity of up to 1,000 tonnes of sugarcane per day. The processing system, he said, would utilise the various by-products of sugarcane production to make the operation as self-sustaining as possible.
Sugarcane delivered by farmers would first be weighed and prepared before milling to extract juice and biomass. The biomass would be used as fuel for the boiler to generate steam and power for the facility. The extracted juice would then be processed into syrup, followed by crystallisation and separation of sugar and molasses. The company also plans to use the molasses, a valuable by-product of sugar production, for alcohol production.
Beyond sugar production, the company intends to develop the facility into an integrated agro-industrial complex. The Managing Director said that after stabilising sugarcane supplies and expanding production over the next three to four years, the company planned to venture into ethanol and alcohol production, with the possibility of supplying ethanol for fuel blending. The company also intends to generate additional electricity for possible supply to the national grid and produce cattle feed and other value-added products.
The company management expressed appreciation for the support received from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, particularly the Minister, Hon. Eric Opoku, who they said had visited the project to assess its progress and encourage the investors. The company said the Minister’s engagement had helped strengthen investor confidence and demonstrated government’s interest in reducing Ghana’s dependence on imported sugar.
Mr. Dzramado said Arise Ghana’s visit had provided the group with an opportunity to independently verify government’s claims about private-sector investment and agricultural development. He said the group had also observed progress in the government’s efforts to revive irrigation infrastructure in the North Tongu District, describing irrigation as critical to moving Ghanaian agriculture away from dependence on rainfall. According to him, year-round farming through irrigation was essential if Ghana was to modernise agriculture and improve food production.
Mr. Dzramado said Arise Ghana would continue its nationwide project-monitoring exercise and would announce its next destination in due course. He stressed that the group’s objective was to ensure that government promises were translated into tangible development outcomes for Ghanaians.
