On Monday, 26th June 2023 the Prestea Huni-valley municipal Assembly together with the Minerals Commission executed an observance to commissioned Gari and Palm Oil processing factory at Abease Huni-valley in the Prestea Huni-valley municipality after successful completion to officially starts in operation. The completion of this factory labels a momentous ground-breaking for the municipality and heralds a new epoch of economic growth and agriculture development.
Speaking to the gathering, Hon. Isaac Dasmani PhD the municipal chief executive of Prestea Huni-Valley Municipal Assembly said the factory has originated through the exertion and hard work of the former member of parliament and now the chairperson for Minerals Commission Hon. Barbra Oteng Gyasi. He added that the factory will produce voluminous products such as fortified Gari that’s Gari packaged with soya beans, packaged Gari with sugar, packaged Gari with margarine, packaged Gari with coconut and even the remains of the cassava after process can be used for starch and tapioca etc. Even though the factory looks very simply however it has a slice of value additions which is going to be profitable to this community and the municipality as whole. With the case of the palm oil factory, there would be two kinds of production, palm oil for consumption and industrial purposes. Looking the production capacity, the greater for the Gari processing can produce 500kg of cassava within an hour, the flyer can produce 20kg of Gari within an hour, the storage tank also contains 350lit, for the palm oil the trashier can scrap about 500kg per an hour, the cooking machine can cook 1000kg within an hour, there is an extractor that can also extract 250 to 500kg within an hour and the storage tank also contains 350lit. This create as many as 200 direct and indirect jobs for the good people this municipality. I can say with confident that, there is a ready market for the product, the institutions, companies, market and the general public are ever ready to patronize the product, therefore we must to see this factory our own to help protect for the growth of this facility. He added.
The Chairperson of Minerals Commission Hon. Barbra Oteng Gyasi when addressing the crowd made it clear that, the factory is as a result of government numerous effort put in place to line up as many as possible alternative livelihood programs to help the fight against illegal activities in the country and also aid generate employment for the citizenry. Besides been a woman myself, I perceived that many women develop interest in galamsey activities just find something to gratify their living, per my observations I realized that most the women in this community are farmers so I have to maneuver and find them something that will be more beneficial to them and also embolden them on agri-business. Again the mini Gari and Palm Oil processing factory was set as a pilot project to serve as an alternative livelihood program in the mining communities towards the fights against illegal mining. Remorsefully to talk about the delayed of the factory, it remained by way of consequence of the manufacturing of the production machines and the thievery of the electrical cables from site which caused a bit problem but through collective effort by the Municipal Assembly and Minerals Commission, we have been able to astounded the circumstances and here we are today to handover the facility to authorities to start production, this factory is here to give us different products as well value addition to our agriculture produce. She