Three companies sign pact to boost Ghana’s cotton cultivation
The Government’s commitment to revive the cotton industry on Friday received a boost when three companies signed a business agreement with the assurance to cotton farmers that their labour and investment would yield dividend.
The companies; Textyles Ghana Limited (TSG), Volta Star Textiles Limited (VSTL) and Wienco Ghana Limited (Wienco) by their business partnership, are expected to deepen and strengthen value addition to local raw materials and enhance production in the textile industry.
By the agreement, TSG would be expected to buy one million cotton lint produced by Ghanaian farmers for VSTL to convert it into six million yards of grey cloth.
Wienco, which had already been granted a zone in the Upper East Region in 2011 where it had supported 7,000 farmers both technically and financially, gave the assurance that it would double the acreage under cultivation to produce enough cotton locally to feed the textile industry.
Speaking at a press conference organised in Accra by the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Mr Daniel Van Wassenhove, Technical Director of TSG, expressed the hope that the partnership would help to revive and sustain the textile industry.
He said “we believe that with this ‘Made in Ghana’ approach, we really are adding value to the Ghanaian society in creating jobs from the cotton farmer through the grey cloth manufacturing up to the dyeing and printing of African textiles.”
Mr Wassenhove appealed to the Government to grant the company a “deferment of Value Added Tax and National Health Insurance Levy payment” to cover raw cotton purchase.
Mr Evans Agyagbo, Acting Technical Director of VSTL, said by virtue of the partnership, the company’s plant capacity utilisation would increase from the current 10 per cent to 30 per cent this year.
“The factory will engage additional hands in its catchment area. There will be an improvement in VSTL’s financial position and the company’s contribution to the Ghanaian economy will improve through payee tax mobilisation, VAT and Social Security and National Insurance Trust contributions,” he said.
Ms Hanna Tetteh, Minister of Trade and Industry, expressed the hope that the revival and sustenance of the cotton industry would soon make Ghana to become a net exporter of cotton.
It would be recalled that the Ghana News Agency reported on March 27, 2011 that Mr Kwesi Ahwoi, Minister of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), said Ghana lost about $625 million last year 2011 because the country’s cotton industry went dormant.
Source: GNA