By Francis Ntow
Kpone, Mar. 7, GNA – Olam Agri Ghana has commissioned a US$40 million pasta manufacturing facility at Kpone in the Greater Accra Region to reduce Ghana’s reliance on imported pasta by up to 40 per cent.
The plant, inaugurated by John Dramani Mahama, President of the Ghana, forms part of efforts to accelerate industrialisation, promote import substitution and strengthen food security.
Mr Sunny George Verghese, Group Chief Executive Officer of Olam Agri, said at the inauguration that Ghana remained a strategic hub for the company’s African operations and was the second market it entered after Nigeria.
“Our mission is to produce more food, feed, and fibre to meet the needs of a growing population, while ensuring that this expansion does not destroy the planet but safeguards biodiversity, water resources, and the environment for future generations,” he said.
He pointed to key challenges confronting global agriculture, including a widening demand gap of 7.5 trillion calories per day, biodiversity loss and the need to improve farmer livelihoods, and called for stronger public-private partnerships to address them.
Mr Verghese said Ghana’s role as a regional hub would be critical in meeting Africa’s food security needs and praised the country’s progress in wheat production as a potential gamechanger.
He said the company aimed to balance production expansion with sustainability, ensuring that food, feed and fibre were delivered without compromising biodiversity, water resources or the planet’s future.
Mr Verghese expressed appreciation to Ghanaian suppliers, farmers, customers and the Government for their partnership, noting that Olam worked with 5.4 million farmers globally to build a sustainable future.
Between 2021 and 2024, Ghana imported pasta worth about US$140 million, making it the second-largest importer in Africa after Togo.
Mr Neelamani Muthukumar, Chief Finance Officer of Olam Agri Ghana, said the project, completed within 18 months, had the capacity to produce 60,000 metric tonnes of pasta annually, meeting nearly half of Ghana’s domestic demand.
“This means we can cater to 40 percent of Ghana’s pasta requirement,” he said, adding that the facility was equipped with world-class machinery sourced from leading original equipment manufacturers and designed to meet international standards.
Mr Muthukumar said the project had created 300 direct jobs and nearly 1,000 indirect employment opportunities within the Tema industrial corridor.
“With government support and private sector innovation Ghana is poised to rewrite its food security and industrialisation narrative.
“The commissioning of Olam Agri Ghana’s pasta plant represents more than an industrial milestone. It is a bold step toward economic self-reliance, job creation, and regional competitiveness,” he said.
Madam Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, Minister for Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, described the facility as a landmark in Ghana’s industrialisation efforts.
This would help to reduce imports and position the country as a potential pasta exporter within the sub-region.
“Every metric ton of pasta produced in Tema is a direct import substitution, a preserved dollar in our foreign reserves, and a new employment opportunity. The remarkable journey from trader to processor, from raw material exporter to finished goods manufacturer, is precisely the story we want every investor in Ghana to tell,” she said.
Madam Ofosu-Adjare urged Olam Agri to ensure that local production translated into affordable prices for consumers, saying, “Local manufacturing must not only mean corporate profits. It must mean accessible prices for ordinary families.”
She also encouraged the company to collaborate with Ghana’s crop research institutions to develop wheat varieties suitable for local cultivation to support the Government’s “Feed the Industry” programme aimed at providing industry with locally produced raw materials.
GNA
Edited by Kenneth Sackey
