Ghana intends to develop an assembling plant for agricultural equipment.
The $24.98 million projects will get underway right away and be located in the Ashanti Region near Essienimpong.
This comes after the governments of Ghana and India inked a credit deal to be funded by the India EXIM Bank.
Action Construction Equipment Limited of India will carry it out.
The facility will fabricate agricultural tools in addition to assembling tractors and backhoe loaders.
Both the resident representative of the India EXIM Bank, G. Selva Kumar and the minister of finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, signed on behalf of their respective countries.
According to the project’s implementation timeline, the building and installation of the machinery and other civil works will be finished in 18 months.
For the Ghanaians who will operate the plant, Indian experts will organize training programs.
Through the promotion of agricultural machinery use, the project seeks to make farm equipment accessible to small and marginal farmers.
Although it will be owned by the Ghanaian government, the plant will be run and managed by a public-private limited liability corporation, under the supervision of the Ministries of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) and Finance.
Mr Ofori-Atta made a brief statement in which he thanked India for its significant contributions to Ghana’s development throughout the years.
The 97.620-km railway line from Tema to Mpakadan, valued at $447.173 million and 93.90% finished, is one of several significant ongoing projects in the nation that India is funding.
According to him, the project was in keeping with the government’s plan to restructure the development agenda, formalise the economy, and enhance the agriculture industry.
He stated that it was anticipated that the project would drastically alter the agricultural industry, produce jobs, increase incomes, lessen malnutrition, and aid in accelerating economic progress.
Mr Kumar responded by expressing his excitement for the project’s location in Ghana.
He described the facility as “a game-changer for the people of Ghana.”
He continued, “We think Ghana may gain from this project as an agrarian economy.
According to Mr Kumar, the project was chosen by the Indian government and the EXIM Bank as one that could foster cooperation between the two nations.
He noted that the EXIM Bank has been supporting numerous projects in the nation since 2004 and declared that India was pleased with the alliance between the two nations.
Agricultural mechanization has been highlighted as one of the primary drivers of increasing agricultural output and improvement, according to interim Chief Director of MoFA Richard Twumasi Ankrah.
“To this end, the ministry has, over the years, imported various agricultural machinery, including tractors, for sale to farmers in the country.
“However, these initiatives, apart from the huge investment on the government purse, have been challenged by the frequent breakdown of the machinery due to over-reliance on foreign products that are not able to adapt to our tough terrain, lack of spare parts, etc,” he said.
Mr Ankrah said MoFA saw the establishment of the assembling plant as a major contributory factor to the success of the Planting for Food and Jobs programme.