The Offinso North District is set to expand and carry its tomato producing and processing project, through FEYN Ghana, to greater industrial and international heights.
Pursuant to that, representatives of the project took part in the exhibition at the 2020 Ghana Investment and Opportunities Summit in London last week, to present their product concept and woo investors.
The Project Lead, Dr John Okyere, a UK trained Plant Molecular Geneticist, told the Ghanaian Times that, “Our plan now is to expand our operations to the UK and other parts of Europe”.
Subsequently, he said that the project was planning to cultivate 200 acres of tomatoes this year, and later expand it to 2,500 acres.
To meet that target, Dr Okyere said that FEYN would also employ about 100 permanent workers to add to the present 35 casual workers.
The FEYN Project was initially funded by Ghanaians in the UK and some locals with support from the Crop Research Institute and the Korean Programme for International Agriculture (KOPIA).
Dr Okyere said that the project had field-tested new local varieties of the produce at the Akumadan Irrigation Scheme to identify the best varieties for processing.
He said that there were bright prospects for the project.
Ms Elizabeth Turkson, Solicitor and the project’s Chief Legal Officer said that Diaspora participation was crucial to Ghana’s economic development policies and projects such as FEYN.
“There is a wealth of financial and human resources in the Ghanaian Diaspora, and consistent with the concept of ‘Beyond the Return’.”
FEYN is mobilising those resources and channelling them towards this project to promote industrial development,” she added.
The Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Alan Kyeremanten, who visited the FEYN Ghana stand at the summit, described the project as a good model for industrialisation.
FROM ALBERTO MARIO NORETTI, LONDON
