Ayensu Starch Factory not meeting production targets

The Ayensu Starch Company failed to produce the expected 4,000 metric tonnes of starch for Guinness Company Limited by June 2014.

The company is further expected to produce an additional 10,000 tonnes by June 2015 when it could not even produce a thousand metric of starch last year.

Currently, the factory is crippled with productivity, management, sup­ply and technical challenges that com­pelled the workers to lay down their tools some months ago.

Mr Kweku Ricketts-Hagan, the Deputy Minister of Trade and Indus­try, has said the government was mak­ing efforts to put the factory in the hands of the private sector to inject the required capital to help boost produc­tion and achieve its targets.

He said during a visit to the com­pany that it was imperative that indus­tries were run by the private sector, with the government being a share­holder to give the companies the needed support to succeed.

According to the Minister, though a definitive decision had not been made yet, the government was looking for a partnership that would involve a Ghanaian and a foreigner, or a Ghana­ian, to resolve the problems of ageing machines and other issues of the com­pany, to enhance productivity.

He said the arrangement was in line with government’s private partnership policy of involving the private sector in giving a big boost to local indus­tries, adding that “companies and in­dustries are better run by the private sector than the government.”

The Managing Director of the com­pany, Mr James Bitir, said insufficient supply of electricity was a major con­tributor to the factory’s inability to meet operational targets.

The Ayensu Starch Factory was set up in 2003 as an agro-processing busi­ness involved in the processing of cas­sava into food grade starch for local consumption and export.