Sourcing sugarcane from Twifo Praso for Komenda Sugar Factory is an anomaly — GFL President
“Sourcing sugarcane from Twifo Praso, to the Komenda Sugar Factory is an anomaly. By the time they bring it, it will be fermented so it can only be crashed into molasses for alcohol.
“The running of the factory must be done alongside the cultivation of a sugar plantation, which was yet to be done by the management, therefore, making it non-realistic to revive its operations," Mr. Caleb Nartey a former Electrical Technician and Local Secretary for the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU) for the Asutuare Sugarcane Plantation has revealed.
Mr. Nartey said this during the 14th Edition of the Stakeholders Engagement and Workers’ Appreciation Day Seminar of the Tema Regional Office of the Ghana News Agency monitored by the Communication for Development and Advocacy Consult (CDA Consult) in Tema.
The GNA Tema Stakeholder Engagement is a platform rolled out for state and non-state actors to address national issues and serves as a motivational mechanism to recognize the editorial contribution of reporters towards national development in general, and the growth and promotion of the Tema GNA as the industrial news hub.
Mr. Nartey who is the President of the Ghana Federation of Labour (GFL) has disclosed that the government’s move to revive operations of the Komenda Sugar Factory around this time would only produce molasses instead of sugar.
He explained that by the time the sugarcanes would be transported from other places including Twifo Praso to Komenda, fermentation would have taken place making it impossible to be used to produce sugar.
He added that when it happened so, the only product that the fermented sugarcanes could be used for was sugar molasses which could be used for the production of alcohol.
Mr. Nartey said it must first start with the preparation of the land, after which the sugarcanes would be nursed for six months, and subsequently planted for at least 18 months.
He indicated that such a sugarcane plantation must be located near the factory for easy transportation and avoidance of fermentation in the process of producing sugar.
Speaking of the importance of the local industries in national development, Mr. Abraham Koomson, GFL Secretary-General stressed that empowering the local industry will strengthen local trade and create employment opportunities.
He said exports of local goods will increase in relation to quality and quantity to reduce pressure on the local currency.
Mr. Koomson maintained that no country has developed from a ‘buying and selling’ policy because you destroy your local economy adding that “no country has ever become richer by exporting raw materials without adding value to it and also having a local industry virtually at the intensive care units”.
He argued that Ghana cannot create jobs without having a strong manufacturing base and industrialized economy, “if the government really thinks that production will transform the country, then it must revive and exploit the country’s resources to boost the local economy”.
Mr. Koomson said “we can survive on manufacturing industries if there is a conscious effort to boost the local industry to grow”.
The GFL Secretary-General, therefore, called on the government to revive the local industries to achieve sustainable wealth towards the improvement of the local economy, “local industries are critical toward the achievement of sustainable economic recovery.