An aspiring Member of Parliament for Ejisu, Mr. John Kumah, has hinted that a tractor assembly plant is to be established at Essienimpong near Ejisu .
Mr, Kumah, who is the CEO for the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP) disclosed that a 30 million Cedi credit has already been secured to start the project.
He announced this on Wontumi TV and Radio during an interview with Oheneba Nana Asiedu on Thursday.
Mr. Kumah who doubles as an entrepreneur enumerated a number of benefits that the siting of a tractor assembly plant at Ejisu will bring to the local economy.
According to him, in this year budget alone the Ministry of Agriculture plans to import tractors to the tune of 200 million Ghana Cedis and wondered how beneficial it would be if the tractors were to be purchased from the local market.
Throwing more light on the need to manufacture tractors locally, Mr.Kumah recalled the number of times Ghanaian farmers have had to abandon their tractors because of lack of spare parts.
“This is worrying because in certain situation the tractor breaks down at a time it has not even been used for more than two two years. This means if enough capital is directed to the agricultural sector leading to the manufacturing of our own tractors here in Ghana the spare parts for tractors would be available on the local market and this would save cost.”
Mr. Kumah emphasized that agriculture holds the key to Ghana’s development and called on the army of unemployed youth to seize the opportunity to go into farming
“We have 80 percent of arable land and plants grow everywhere because our land is fertile. It is indeed regrettable that the agricultural potential of the country has not been fully exploited despite the Planting for Food and Jobs initiative. In reality we are not pushing hard enough because our focus leaves much to be desired.” He noted.
Source: Wontumionline.com
