Indian rice investors targets Ghana’s northern sector with a milling plant

An Indian company, Avnash Industries Ghana limited, has established a new rice milling plant at Chang-Naayili near Nyankpala in the Tolon District of the Northern Region to boost rice processing in the country.

The new milling plant, which has started operation, is the largest rice milling unit in West Africa and is capable of producing about 500 metricstons capacity of local rice per day with a storage capacity of 100,000 metric tons.

The company is expected to purchase the local paddy rice from the farmers to process quality rice to meet the demand of the market.

It is a fully automated mill of Buhler which makes it capable of milling par boiled and brown rice and this will help reduce the dependency on the importation of foreign rice which cost the nation US$550 million annually.

The company will also assist in the marketing of the local rice produced by the farmers to ensure value for money as well as encourage patronage by the public.

Close to two hundred skilled people are being recruited by the company both directly and indirectly to help the company meets its targets.

It is also expected to employ 1,000 youths within and outside the region to reduce the unemployment and the poverty rates in the country with the purchasing of the paddy rice from the local rice farmers.

Mr. Akshay Sharma, The Head of Northern sector, in an interview with the B&FT, said the Northern Region has a lot of potential that could tapped into to create job opportunities in the country.

According to him, the investment in the agricultural sector can help the nation to produce more to feed the nation and export the rest to generate revenue to boost the country’s economy.

He noted that the interest rates on loans by the financial institutions in the country is too high for the farmers to access and this, he said, has affected the production of quality paddy rice to meet the demand of the market.

He therefore appealed to government to come up with some incentive package for the farmers to encourage more youths to venture into the sector to alleviate poverty.

Mr. Sharma encouraged the public to consume the local rice which is of nutritional value and international standard.

He said the best way to improve the economy is for government to liaise with the private sectors with the provision of infrastructure and other tax exemptions as incentives to attract more investors into the country.

 Source : B & FT GH