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Mion, Ghana – Paramount Chief of the Mion Traditional Area in the Dagbon Kingdom, Mion-Lana Abdulai Mahamadu, has joined calls for government of President Nana Akufo-Addo to as matter of urgency grant owners of Alafei Foods a letter of intent to enable them establish their industrial base at Zugu in the Yendi Municipality.
The head of the Abudu Royal Family and heir apparent to the Dagbon kingship underscored the lack of jobs in the Northern Region and said if the government grants the agro-processing company the letter, it would enable them to create more jobs for the youth and women in his traditional area.
“What Alafei Foods is bringing to our area is good. Apart from creating jobs for our children and women as well as men, the food produced would also solve the problem of malnutrition among school children through the school feeding programme. So I am appealing to the President Nana Akufo-Addo to consider the request of Alafei Foods”, the chief spoke through an interpreter.
The Mion-Lana Abdulai Mahamadu made the call when the Managing Director of Alafei Foods Claude Convisser paid a courtesy call on him at his palace recently.
The visit to the Mion-Lana’s palace was also to seek his support as a prominent traditional ruler in the Dagbon Kingdom towards securing a letter of intent from the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection that would lead to the establishment of six different factories at its industrial site at Zugu.
Mr. Convisser has been trying hard to seek funding since 2014 to start a multipurpose industrial base at Zugu in the Yendi area.
The industrial base consists of plant oil extraction factory, soya milk factory, soya textured meat factory, vegetable sauce factory, tractor manufacturing factory and renewable electricity generation plant to power all industrial machines.
The project is expected to support 30,000 farmers in Yendi and other surrounding districts such as Saboba, Chereponi, Gushegu, Karaga, Bimbilla and Mion to grow soya beans and jatropha.
Farmers would also benefit from tractor services, farm inputs and extension services. Crops harvested would be directly purchased by Alafei Foods and profits shared with the farmers. About 500 direct jobs would be created within two years after establishing the six factories.
One of the food products Alafei Foods will manufacture from soya beans that would be grown by farmers in the aforementioned districts is called textured soya protein also known as soya meat. It has twice the protein of lean beef and can be stored dry for a long time without the need for refrigeration.
The company first proposed to the Ministry for Gender, Children and Social Protection in March 2018 to supply this soya meat mixed with a prepared vegetable sauce for school children enrolled on the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) at a very low cost.
However, to be able to secure US$30 million to establish the six factories, Alafei Foods requires a letter of intent from the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection who would have to buy the textured soya protein for the GSFP when they are eventually manufactured.
According to the Managing Director of Alafei Foods, the Ministry has since delayed in signing the letter of intent for him and has rather given a Sunyani based company the go ahead to manufacture similar products for the GSFP.
By Savannahnewsonline.com/Philip Liebs
