The flag bearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, has revealed the party's plan to roll out special initiatives to boost the production of cashew if it wins the December 2024 general election.
"We will support cashew farmers to increase the country's current production from 150,000 metric tonnes of cashew annually to 500,000 tonnes," he said.
Mr Mahama was speaking at a mini rally at Wenchi in the Bono Region last Sunday, as part of his four-day campaign tour of the region.
The party faithful held placards with inscriptions such as "Build Cashew Processing Factory at Wenchi", "Transforming Ghana's future with a 24-hour Economy", "No more COVID levy" and "Women's Development Bank", among others.
Decline cocoa production
Mr Mahama said cocoa production continued to decline every year and expressed the need for the country to look at other sectors that could generate enough revenue to support the economy.
"Currently, the country only produces about 440,000 tonnes of cocoa annually, he said, explaining that during his administration, cocoa production increased to 967,000 tonnes.
Mr Mahama said cocoa farmers no longer had interest in the industry due to mismanagement of the sector.
He said it was the reason why some cocoa farmers continued to sell their cocoa farmlands to illegal gold miners.
He said the government could not control illegal mining, explaining that galamsey activities had destroyed 37 forest reserves and water bodies across the country.
The former President said the current administration had collapsed every sector of the country's economy.
Cashew factory
Mr Mahama assured the chiefs and people of Wenchi that his next administration would establish a cashew processing factory at Wenchi.
He explained that the NDC had planned to establish agro-industrial zones across the 16 regions of the country should it win the upcoming general election.
He said under the programme, he would allocate vast lands in every region, connect the sites to electricity, provide water and construct roads to the sites for both local and international investors to establish various kinds of factories to process agricultural products.
Mr Mahama said those factories would operate under the 24-hour Economy policy, explaining that the initiative had been specifically designed to boost the country's economy.
He said the programme would also help create employment to the teeming unemployed youth in the country.
Roads
Mr Mahama said after monitoring the level of development at Wenchi, he could conclude that the government had deliberately neglected the town and its environs, particularly roads and infrastructure projects.
He said various successive governments had prioritised developments across the country, except the current government, which had decided to neglect some constituencies such as Wenchi, because the people voted against it.
"If President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo says he has constructed 12,000-kilometres roads across the country, then where are Wenchi roads," he questioned.
Mr Mahama accused the government of neglecting all roads and infrastructure projects at the Al-Faruq College of Education he started during his administration.
He said he started eight different projects at the college before leaving office in 2016 but the government had refused to continue to complete them.
Completion of projects
Mr Mahama promised to complete all abandoned and uncompleted projects, if elected in the December general election.
"The Next NDC government will focus on the completion of abandoned and uncompleted projects.
"We will not be in a hurry to start new projects. We will finish the uncompleted and abandoned projects and if we have extra money, we start new projects," he said.
Mr Mahama explained that the situation where government abandoned inherited projects was a waste of tax payers’ money and public resources.
Commendation
The Omanhene of Wenchi, Osagyefo Ampem Annye Amoapong Tabrako III, commended the former President for the huge investment made in the area during his administration.
He, however, appealed to Mr Mahama to revive the Wenchi Tomato Processing Factory (TOMACAN) and rehabilitate roads in the area if he won the election.
He said the area could not benefit from the government’s One-District-One-Factory initiative and appealed to him to assist in the processing of cashew in the area.
Nana Tabrako said processing cashew nuts before export was better than the current situation where huge cashew nuts were exported in their raw state.
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