UT Bank expresses interest in Aveyime rice farms (Friday, Feb. 8, 2013, pg 39)
ONE of Ghana’s indigenous banks, UT Bank, has expressed interest in investing in the Aveyime rice farms, operated by Prairie Volta.
Last year, the company managed to bag some 7,200 tonnes of rice but financial constraints have held back its expansion plans.
Even though the company has acquired 6,000 hectares at Ke near Mafi Dove in the Volta Region, the company is struggling to raise the needed funds to support the project.
But the CEO of the bank, Mr Prince Kofi Amoabeng, told the Daily Graphic on the sidelines of a facility visit to the farm with officials of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, the United Nation Systems in Ghana, the Japanese Embassy and the African Development Bank that the project had a lot of potential if well supported.
The trip was for the officials to familiarise with the operations of the farm and explore possible areas of cooperation.
According to the UT Bank boss, the farm has, “ a huge potential, not only for the company in terms of profit, but also for the country in terms of food security, foreign exchange we can save, creating jobs for the community and Ghana generally . We can’t let it go to waste; we have to do all we can to push it up.”
“We’ll do everything possible to give it a good shot, support in terms of money, sustainability and profitability. It will be one good project if we can pull it off.”
“If we can do one successfully, there is a multiplying effect that other public-private partnerships can take lessons from and move it on. You only need one to start but when you get one going, it can be duplicated.”
“This is very impressive. We always talk about food security, creating jobs, trying to reserve our small foreign exchange. It is all sitting here. That is the situation of Ghana. We always have the potential but it never happens,” he said.
“What I have seen today it is a matter of believing in it and giving a real support and exposure. As UT Bank, it is good that I came myself to see it.”
A remnant of the Quality Grain Project which collapsed some years back, the company, which began its operations in 2009, has been able to produce more than 15,000 tonnes of rice for the Ghanaian market.
While 10,000 tonnes have been milled and sold, the remaining has gone into seedlings for other farmers.
The UN Resident Cordinator, Ms Harmandip Ruby Sandhu-Rojon, who could not hide her excitement about the farm said, “the initiative has a lot of potential. It is quite impressive to see what they have been able to do so far. We have to encourage investment into it for it to be able to continue. They also have constraints in getting funding to expand.”
“The quality of the rice is very good. It is also important to recognise that this is the only Ghanaian private sector company that has helped the UN system by providing rice for refugees and we’ll really want to recognise that. We need to let people know that there is the capacity for such initiatives in Ghana and the country can produce its own rice and not depend on export,” she added.
The Managing Partner of the company, Mr John Vandyke-Mensah, lamented the lack of Ghanaian expertise in operating the entire farm’s equipment.
He observed that commercial banks in the country were not lending enough support to commercial farming in the country in order to push Ghana’s quest for a sustained food security.
He said with the exception of the Agriculture Development Bank which is somehow living to its mandate of supporting agricultural development in the country, most of the commercial banks are not in tune with supporting commercial farming.
He was,however, optimistic about the future of the company as it seeks to expand its operations.
He said the new land acquired by the company would reduce the cost of land preparation and help the company to increase productivity.
Currently, the company spends US$3,500 in preparing a hectare but that is expected to reduce drastically to US$2,000 at the new site.
As part of its expansion drive, Mr Richard Aidoo, the company’s Manager in charge of Finance and Administration, said the company would be giving out 3,000 hectares out of its newly acquired 6,000 hectares to out-growers.
Currently, the farm is cultivating Jasmine 85 and Sierra (basmati variety) from the United States but is also planning to experiment with some other varieties from Brazil to increase output.
“We want to employ a lot more people and at the same time, involve the local community in addition to increasing the rice varieties we cultivate. Those, we can depend on out-growers to handle,” he stated.
To achieve all that, the company has invested in a new drier at the mill which costs US$ 500,000, in addition to replacing the aircraft that is used for planting and spraying fertilisers.
At the time of the visit, rice paddy was being harvested from 1,200 acres.
Last year, the company managed to bag some 7,200 tonnes of rice but financial constraints have held back its expansion plans.
Even though the company has acquired 6,000 hectares at Ke near Mafi Dove in the Volta Region, the company is struggling to raise the needed funds to support the project.
But the CEO of the bank, Mr Prince Kofi Amoabeng, told the Daily Graphic on the sidelines of a facility visit to the farm with officials of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, the United Nation Systems in Ghana, the Japanese Embassy and the African Development Bank that the project had a lot of potential if well supported.
The trip was for the officials to familiarise with the operations of the farm and explore possible areas of cooperation.
According to the UT Bank boss, the farm has, “ a huge potential, not only for the company in terms of profit, but also for the country in terms of food security, foreign exchange we can save, creating jobs for the community and Ghana generally . We can’t let it go to waste; we have to do all we can to push it up.”
“We’ll do everything possible to give it a good shot, support in terms of money, sustainability and profitability. It will be one good project if we can pull it off.”
“If we can do one successfully, there is a multiplying effect that other public-private partnerships can take lessons from and move it on. You only need one to start but when you get one going, it can be duplicated.”
“This is very impressive. We always talk about food security, creating jobs, trying to reserve our small foreign exchange. It is all sitting here. That is the situation of Ghana. We always have the potential but it never happens,” he said.
“What I have seen today it is a matter of believing in it and giving a real support and exposure. As UT Bank, it is good that I came myself to see it.”
A remnant of the Quality Grain Project which collapsed some years back, the company, which began its operations in 2009, has been able to produce more than 15,000 tonnes of rice for the Ghanaian market.
While 10,000 tonnes have been milled and sold, the remaining has gone into seedlings for other farmers.
The UN Resident Cordinator, Ms Harmandip Ruby Sandhu-Rojon, who could not hide her excitement about the farm said, “the initiative has a lot of potential. It is quite impressive to see what they have been able to do so far. We have to encourage investment into it for it to be able to continue. They also have constraints in getting funding to expand.”
“The quality of the rice is very good. It is also important to recognise that this is the only Ghanaian private sector company that has helped the UN system by providing rice for refugees and we’ll really want to recognise that. We need to let people know that there is the capacity for such initiatives in Ghana and the country can produce its own rice and not depend on export,” she added.
The Managing Partner of the company, Mr John Vandyke-Mensah, lamented the lack of Ghanaian expertise in operating the entire farm’s equipment.
He observed that commercial banks in the country were not lending enough support to commercial farming in the country in order to push Ghana’s quest for a sustained food security.
He said with the exception of the Agriculture Development Bank which is somehow living to its mandate of supporting agricultural development in the country, most of the commercial banks are not in tune with supporting commercial farming.
He was,however, optimistic about the future of the company as it seeks to expand its operations.
He said the new land acquired by the company would reduce the cost of land preparation and help the company to increase productivity.
Currently, the company spends US$3,500 in preparing a hectare but that is expected to reduce drastically to US$2,000 at the new site.
As part of its expansion drive, Mr Richard Aidoo, the company’s Manager in charge of Finance and Administration, said the company would be giving out 3,000 hectares out of its newly acquired 6,000 hectares to out-growers.
Currently, the farm is cultivating Jasmine 85 and Sierra (basmati variety) from the United States but is also planning to experiment with some other varieties from Brazil to increase output.
“We want to employ a lot more people and at the same time, involve the local community in addition to increasing the rice varieties we cultivate. Those, we can depend on out-growers to handle,” he stated.
To achieve all that, the company has invested in a new drier at the mill which costs US$ 500,000, in addition to replacing the aircraft that is used for planting and spraying fertilisers.
At the time of the visit, rice paddy was being harvested from 1,200 acres.
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