[ 2016-11-08 ]

Plan for sugarcane plantation to feed Komenda Sugar Factory
The government is to establish its own sugar
plantation to produce more than 100,000 tonnes of
sugarcane per annum to the feed the Komenda Sugar
Factory.

As a result of this, the Ministry of Finance is
seeking Parliamentary approval for a credit
facility of US$ 24.54 million from the Exim Bank
of India to finance the development of an
irrigation system, and also facilitate the
cultivation of sugarcane to feed the factory.

The facility which will attract an interest rate
of 1.50 per cent per annum has a grace period of
five years, and a repayment period of 20 years, is
expected to support the development of sugar
plantation by the company and also extend support
to out-growers to help produce sufficient sugar
for the factory.

This was contained in the report of the
Parliamentary Select Committee on Finance on the
credit facility.

The Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Ekwow
Spio-Gabrah, explained to the committee that in
the absence of this arrangement, the factory would
be compelled to rely solely on local sugarcane
producers for raw materials, adding that the
production currently available could only supply
about 30 per cent of the factory’s raw material
requirements.

He said the factory would rely on supplies from
about 100 km radius covering parts of Western,
Eastern, Volta, Greater Accra, and the Central
regions for its raw material needs.

Komenda Sugar Factory

As part of efforts by the government to revive the
sugar industry in Ghana, it secured a US$ 35
million from the Export-Import Bank of India for
the construction of a 1,250 TCD capacity white
sugar plant with 1.0 megawatt surplus power in the
Komenda Edina Eguafo Abirem Municipality.

Ghana imports substantial quantities of sugar for
both domestic consumption and industrial use. In
2013, sugar remained the eighth most valuable
imported commodity and the fourth largest food
import after rice, fish and poultry.

Sugar consumption is also rapidly growing and in
recent years. Ghana has spent more than US$ 200
million per annum on importing about 200, 000
tonnes of sugar. Sugar consumption is estimated to
rise to more than 800,000 tonnes by 2023 and
within the broader ECOWAS sub-region, sugar is
also a large net import.

In order to meet this growing demand through
domestic production, the Komenda Sugar Factory was
revitalized with the support of the Indian Exim
bank.

However, following the completion of the factory,
there is the need for the irrigation and
plantation component to be expeditiously developed
to ensure the availability of sugarcane in the
required quantities for effective and efficient
factory operations and reliable supply of
sugarcane.

This is why that government has entered a new
credit facility agreement with the Indian Exim
Bank to support the production of sugarcane to
feed the factory.

Operation of the factory

On the current state of the factory, Mr
Spio-Garbrah, explained that after the
commissioning of the factory, there was the need
to test run it to ensure the robustness and
integrity of the various components before full
scale commercial operations, adding that the test
run lasted for three months.

He said during this period, several thousands of
tons of sugarcane purchased from local farms were
crushed and about 500 bags of sugar were
produced.

He explained that just like many sugar factories
across Africa, the factory was currently not in
operation because the sugarcane was out of
season.

The Minister also pointed out that the factory had
already entered a purchase agreement with several
local producers to supply them with sugar can
during the coming harvest season.

This arrangement he said would ensure the factory
remained operational pending the coming on board
of the sugarcane plantation.

He assured the committee that the necessary
arrangements had been put in place to ensure that
the factory comes back to full scale operations
this month.

Source - Graphic Online.com

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