Nana Adwoa Owusaa II, the Queen-Mother of Namasua, a farming community in the Berekum Municipality of the Bono Region has appealed to the government to support the people to engage in commercial cassava production.
She said a cassava processing factory remained non-operational and left at the mercy of the weather because of the lack of the raw materials to feed the factory and create job opportunities for the people.
Checks revealed that the previous administration through the Rural Enterprises Programme (REP) established the factory in 2022 under the One-District-One-Factory initiative, however, it remains non-functioning, with weed taken over.
It has the capacity of processing 1.5 metric tons of cassava per hour, equivalent to approximately 15 bags and will create direct jobs for more than 20 people.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Namasua, Nana Owusuaa II expressed worry that many of the young men and women in the area were jobless saying operationalisation of the factory would create direct and indirect jobs to the people.
She said the facility could operate 24 hours and thereby align with the government 24-hour economy for job creation and poverty reduction.
Nana Owusuaa II expressed disgust about the uncontrolled activities of Fulani nomads in the area who used their cattle to graze and destroyed people’s farms and properties.
She said the situation was now threatening the security of the area and called for the urgent intervention of the Berekum Municipal Security Committee.
Nana Owusuaa II said the nomads had also entered a reserve forest in the area causing extensive damages to the natural resources and called on the Forestry Commission (FC) to act fast and protect the reserve.
“If FC can’t protect the reserve, then they should hand it over to the community to manage and protect it,” she stated.
