GHANA – A fruit processing factory under government’s One District One Factory (1D1F) programme, Nano Foods, has made its first shipment of processed fruits to the Canary Islands in Spain.

The pineapple juice processing factory was commissioned in May 2021 in Nsawam, after being left defunct for 21 years.

This was made possible through a US$1.6 million capital support from Ghana Export-Import Bank (EXIM Bank) in collaboration with the Ghana Export Promotion Authority, Ghana Investment Promotion Centre, Food and Drugs Authority and Free Zones Board, facilitated by the One-District, One-Factory Secretariat.

Nano Foods, formerly known as Astek, holds the capacity to produce about 6,500 tonnes of canned drink annually, translating to 8 million cans of finished products per year, targeted to serve both the local and exports markets of Africa, US, Middle East and European markets.

To feed the factory, Nano Foods Limited currently deals with 13 Pineapple Associations and Co-operatives in the Nsawam-Adoagyiri Municipalities and Akuapem South District, thus offering direct market for the farmers’ produce and increasing their income.

The One District One Factory Programme is an initiative instituted by President Akuffo-Addo to address the challenges of slow economic growth at the district level through national industrialisation.

The programme is expected to facilitate the creation of between 7,000 to 15,000 jobs per district and between 1.5 million and 3.2 million nationwide by end of 2021.

According to the president, the project aims to boost massive private sector-led nationwide industrialisation drive which will equip and empower communities to utilise local resources in manufacturing products that are in high demand for both local and international markets.

Under the project, the country recently revamped the country’s largest poultry farm, Darko Farms, whose operations went under, due to major challenges that confronted the domestic poultry industry in the late 1990s.

The farm currently has a processing plant operating at 10,000 birds per day with one shift, and 20,000 birds per day with two shifts.

It has a hatchery with capacity to produce 6-million-day-old chicks a year, breeder farms with a bird population of about 30,000 per batch, a layer farm with capacity of 100,000 per batch, and commercial broiler farms with capacity of 350,000 birds per cycle of 8 weeks.

In addition, Darko Farms has a feed mill with an installed capacity of 96 metric tons of feed per day, and a storage cold room of 500 metric tons.

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