Cape Coast, July 27, GNA – The Upper Denkyira East Municipal Assembly has rallied investment support for the construction of a cocoa by-product processing factory under the government’s “One District, One Factory” (1D1F) industrialization policy.
The 1D1F is a Government of Ghana initiative aimed at creating jobs for Ghanaians through the setting up of factories and industries in all districts of the country, would move the country towards greater industrialization.
Cocoa is the most widely grown crop in the semi-equatorial area taking about 50 per cent of the 1020 square kilometres of the total arable land in the municipality and 10 per cent of the total land area of the Central Region.
However, after extracting the cocoa beans for export, its by-product (husk or shell) goes waste, hence the Assembly’s appeal to investors to take full advantage of the abundant agricultural resource to transform the Municipality for mutual benefits.
Mr Ebenezer Appiah Forson, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) disclosed this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), on the sidelines of the ongoing Central Regional Trade, Tourism and Investment Fair in Cape Coast.
The weeklong Fair dubbed, “Central Expo 2022”, has brought together more than 200 exhibitors from the 22 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies in the Region.
All the Metropolitan, Municipal and Districts will take turns to showcase their investment potentials to attract investors and other businesses to their Area.
The Upper Denkyira East Municipality, Upper Denkyira West, Twifo Atti-morkwa and the Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese Districts took turns to sell their areas’ rich cultures and potentials on Tuesday afternoon.
Pivoted on courting investments to the most peaceful region in Ghana, the expo seeks to showcase the investments potential of the Region on the theme: “Promoting Trade, Tourism and Investments in the Central Region: Challenges, Prospects and Solutions.”
Mr Forson said the Assembly’s interest in the development and utilization of cocoa by-products from the fresh pod and farm waste had become prominent as a viable means of job creation.
He said processed cocoa pod husks could be put to several uses including animal feed by slicing, partial drying and pelletizing into granules for feeding sheep, pigs, and poultry.
The burnt dry cocoa pod husk is also used as the main source of alkaline used by the local soap industry for the production of local soap (Alata Samina) liquid soap.
He added that the potash produced from in the husk could be used to formulate dark soap which derived its name from its colour which does not only have a moisturizing effect on the skin but also has curative powers against all manner of skin rashes.
Above all, after burning the husk, the resulting ash can be used as potash fertilizer and has a pH of 5.8 with beneficial nutrients to the soil velocity and an attractive top cover for both flower beds and vegetable patches.
The MCE assured of reliable raw materials and marketing support interventions, adding that the demand for products containing natural and renewable sourced ingredients was growing very fast across the world, expected to boost the industry.
Furthermore, the global soap market has a huge market locally and in the United States and Japan, where it is used for mulching on farms.
Highlighting other invisible areas, he said cash crops such as maize, cassava, cocoyam, plantain, vegetables were also grown commercially and to feed households.
Also, there are hundreds of commercial farm animals; poultry and Fish farmers and non-traditional farmers of snail, grass cutters and beekeepers form only about two per cent of the farming population.
Equally, the peaceful Municipality has its doors opened for other investment opportunities in community mining, quarrying, tourism, clay for ceramics and reserved land for development.
Source: Ghana News Agency
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