The
Minister of Trade and Industry has paid a one day working visit to the Tano
South District of the Brong Ahafo Region to visit and interact with local
entrepreneurs and have a look at their workplaces.
The Minister’s
visit saw him and his entourage first paying a courtesy call on the Tano South
District Chief Executive, Hon. Bukari Zakari Anaba where he interacted with
Assembly Members, Heads of various government departments and staff of the Tano
South District Assembly.
In a
short speech to welcome the Minister, the Tano South District Chief Executive,
Hon. Bukari Zakari Anaba said, the Minister’s visit was an indication of the
government’s commitment of bringing governance to the doorstep of the people
especially the rural communities where small scale industries are sited and
outlined the various places the Minister would visit whilst in the district.
Briefing
the Minister on the state of Businesses in the district, the Tano South
District Head of the Business Advocacy Centre, Mr. Abdul – Mutalib Zakaria
said, many people in the district have benefited from various training
programmes such as soap making, grass-cutter rearing, Bee keeping and many more
and said, the Tano South District Assembly through the BAC has been able to
supply start-up equipment to graduates of the Bechem Rural Technology Facility
who have completed a three (3) year programme in Metal fabrication and welding.
Mr.
Mutalib said, farmers in the district also experience post-harvest loses which
makes farmers not to keep their produce for longer periods and appealed through
the Minister to government to provide storage facilities to be sited in the
district since the Tano South District can boast of being one of the leading
producers of tomatoes in the country.
He said,
poultry farming has also gained root in the district as of such farms are
springing up with people setting up their small scale farms and appealed if the
government could come to their aid of such people with poultry kits.
Addressing
the gathering, the Minister of Trade and Industry, Hon. Ekow Spio- Gabrah said,
he deemed it a honour to have had the chance to visit the Tano South District
to enable him has first-hand information on trade opportunities and
Industrial establishments in the district.
Hon.
Spio- Gabrah said, the Tano South District has many resources which need to be
protected and developed for the future generation especially the youth and
advised the unemployed youth to use their little resources to start up their
businesses to reduce the unemployment rate in the country.
Hon.
Spio-Gabrah said, government is putting in measures to turn attention on industrialization
and urged all to be industrial minded. He said, the standard of the Bechem
Rural Technology Facility would be raised for the facility to attain a higher
status.
The Minister
during his visit to the district, visited two (2) poultry farms, the cocoa
Nursery project of the Cocobod , a soap manufacturing and oil palm extracting
factory and the Rural Technology Facility.
The Minister
in speeches at all the places he visited commended proprietors of the various
workplaces and encouraged them to invest more of their resources in their
operations so as to make them attain higher returns and be able to expand their
businesses to be able to employ more hands as the government alone cannot solve
the unemployment problem facing the country.
The Minister
on a visit to the Cocoa station where a nursery project is underway was told
that the government through the Bechem Cocobod has been able to nurse four
hundred thousand (400,000) cocoa seedlings which would be distributed to
farmers in the district in line with the government aim of making available
sixteen million (16,000,000) cocoa seedlings to be distributed to farmers in
the Brong Ahafo Region during the 2016 major farming season.
Proprietors
of the two (2) poultry farms which the Minister visited Messrs Oppong Kyekyeku
of Dwomo and Kwame Frimpong , a University graduate of Bechem appealed to the
government through the Minister for a subsidy to be put on poultry inputs such as feeds and
others so that poultry farmers could buy more to feed their birds to enable them
expand their farms.
Madam Lucy
Mensah who operates the gari and oil palm establishment also appealed to the government
for support in the operation of her establishment as the availability of some
industrial machines at her site would
enable her expand the business and produce more and be able to employ more hands.
The Minister
on the other hand assured the proprietors of his Minister’s preparedness to
come to their aid where his Ministry fits in and address the other concerns to
the appropriate Ministry for the necessary measures to be taking on them.
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