President Akufo-Addo, on Sunday, September 5, 2021, commissioned the GH¢6.7million Sefwi Akontombra rice processing factory, as part of his two-day tour of the Western-North Region.

The rice factory is a state-of-the-art rice facility, with the capacity to produce between 1.5 and 2.8 tonnes of processed rice per hour. The processing plants installed at the factory includes modern parboiling, milling and packaging plants.

It has a standby generator plant and a mechanised borehole to supply the facility with water. It also has a fully furnished office accommodation for staff, a conference room, laboratory and a canteen/kitchen.

The Sefwi Akontombra Rice Factory was constructed under the 1-District-1-Factory Common User Facility (CUF), which is an agro-industrial factory established by the Rural Enterprises Programme (REP) under the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

The factory, President Akufo-Addo was told, will employ about 118 people including management professionals, factory floor workers and plantation workers who will work on a nucleus rice farm.

In addition, over 600 farmers from Sefwi Akontombra District and neighbouring communities will be directly engaged to supply paddy rice for processing.

With funding from the African Development Bank, the Rural Enterprises Programme (REP) has established five of these CUFs nationwide.

The 1D1F CUF factories are located in Savelugu, Nkran Nkwanta in the Dormaa West District of the Bono Region, Akontombra in the Sefwi Akontombra District of the Western North Region, Dompim in the Tarkwa Nsueam Municipality of the Western Region (Oil Palm processing) and in Nsuta in the Sekyere Central District of the Ashanti Region (Maize processing).

The Sefwi Akontombra CUF is expected to be owned by farmer-based organisations and other value chain actors within the selected commodities.

The CUFs will be managed by top-notched management professionals and technicians who will be recruited competitively, by the Ministry of Trade and Industry through REP to ensure the profitability and growth of the factory.