World Food Program invests USD 2.5 million in Ghanaian agro-processor company
The World Food Program has invested USD 2.5 million in Premium foods, and a CAPEX loan of USD 25 million to enable the company competitive globally.
The World Food Program (WFP) is committed to supporting agro-processors and other agriculture value chain players to take advantage of opportunities in the agro sector to be globally competitive and also develop a resilient economy that impacts zero hunger.
Country Director, WFP, Barbara Tulu Clemens revealed at the press meeting that, “Canada enabled WFP to invest USD 2.5 million in Premium foods and a CAPEX loan of USD 25 million. The investment has been useful to the company”.
“We aim to assist and provide technical guidance to agro-processors, smallholder farmers, and stakeholders in the agricultural value chain to take advantage of the opportunities inherent in the agro sector and global market for improved livelihood”, she added.
Sara Nicholls, Minister-Counsellor and Senior Director (Development Programme) of the Canadian High Commission was also present to witness the export of the Super cereal.
Premium Foods, a limited liability food processing company established in 1999 with two factories at Jachie and Kwaso has qualified as a producer and supplier of SuperCereal, a specialized nutritious food to WFP’s global operations.
The WFP ordered 1,200 metric tonnes of SuperCereal from Premium Foods to be delivered to Burkina Faso.
“The orders from WFP will improve the lives of small-scale farmers who sell their produce to the company through aggregators,” Founder and Managing Director of Premium Foods, Tom Gambrah noted.
From 2016 to 2021, the WFP implemented an integrated nutrition-food security initiative dubbed ‘Enhanced Nutrition and Value Chains’ in Ghana (ENVAC), which was funded by Canada.
It aimed at encouraging the consumption of specialised nutritious foods to help improve pregnant and nursing women, adolescent girls, and children’s nutrition.
It also provided financial and technical support to agro-processors and improved farming practices amongst smallholder farmers.
The WFP has started implementing transformative programs that support Ghana to engage competitively with the rest of the world through trade and investment.