JAPC to invest $70m in plantain chips production

Plantain chipsJuaboso Agro Processing Company (JAPC), a joint Ghanaian/American business is investing $70 million in the production and export of plantain chips.

The target is to export 7,000 tonnes of chips annually to the United States (US) and the European Union (EU) countries.

The company had already secured 6,000 hectares of land for the cultivation of plantain and the building of a state-of-the-art factory at Ampabame in the Ejisu-Juaben Municipality.

Mr Maxwell Agyemang, its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) told a stakeholders meeting in Kumasi that when fully operational, it would provide direct employment to over 1,000 people.

He said the company has a 10-year export contract to supply the US market and should be ready with the first deliveries by September, 2016.

The meeting was attended by officials from the Ghana Export Promotion Council (GEPC), Forestry Commission, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), and foreign partners.

The JAPC is 90 per cent Ghanaian and the remaining 10 per cent shares held by the Americans.

Mr. Agyemang noted that, the country had enormous potential for plantain chips production and that would be fully developed to bring in more foreign exchange.

It has to take advantage of the huge international market to grow the economy, he added.

The global snacks food market is forecasted by “Global Industry Analysts Incorporated”, an international research firm, to hit $334 billion by the end of this year.

Source: GNA

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