Business News of Wednesday, 11 December 2019
Source: Myjoyonline.com
2019-12-11
The company has produced close to 400,000 pieces of juice so far
The first factory inaugurated under the One District One Factory project has started its commercial production of 100,000 juices a day.
It is expected that this Christmas Eku Juice (christened after Ekumfi) would be one of the many drinks on the market.
Director of Operations, Ekumfi Juices Factory, Fredrick Acquaah says though the company has not firmed up the price of its 250 ml aseptic pack, the price will not go beyond GH¢1.5.
So far, the company has produced close to 400,000 pieces of the juice which will hit the market before the 20th of December.
The Ekumfi Juices Factory has about 1,000 hectors of a pineapple plantation, which will do some 10,000 fruits every hour for an 8-hour shift. Being the first phase of the project
The Ekumfi based company got $5 million to start a factory from the China Exim Bank to be paid over a seven-year period.
Close to two years ago when President Akufo-Addo was about to cut the sod, the JoyBusiness team focused its lenses on Daniel Kwarteng, a young farmer whose project had been selected for the one district one factory project. From this project, 5000 out-growers and 400 factory hands from Ekumfi were expected to be employed.
Farmers two years ago expressed relief over where the company was being sited because of post-harvest loses.
Commissioning the project to start in 2017, President Akufo-Addo was optimistic it will be used as a poverty alleviation avenue for the community.
While pineapple juices are currently being produced, passion, ginger and citrus are expected to be added as different flavors.
For a shelf life of 6 months, the pineapple is also pasteurized and sterilized to avoid bacterial from the production process.
Next week, when the drinks go onto the markets about 40 percent of production later, will be sent outside the country by the year 2020 together with the canned juices.
Fredrick Acquaah says some feasibility studies have been done in about five African countries with demands also coming from China and Europe
The expectations of this factory in the central region are enormous and the Central Regional Minister, Kwamena Duncan is also hopeful the factory will go a long way to help solve the unemployment challenges in the region.
