Rural industries battle problems
Cocoa farmers get bonus to maintain farms
Pharmaceutical firm commends gov’t on VAT Amendment Law
Sunyani (Brong Ahafo) 09 July 2001
A day's promotion workshop under the auspices of the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI) for traders and small-scale industrialists in Brong Ahafo was held on Friday in Sunyani.
The workshop, aimed at finding out the problems facing participants in the rural industrial set up was sponsored by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAF).
It is the first of two workshops under the Rural Trade and Industry Promotion Programme (RUTIPP), designed by MOTI at the pilot level.
The next one will be held in Tamale for participants in the Northern Region.
Topics discussed included, identification of economically viable sectors for rural industrialisation and trade, improving support services delivery to facilitate rapid rural industrialisation and trade, organisational development for effective participation of the private sector and assessment of information needs.
In a speech read for him, Mr Yaw Adjei-Duffuor, Deputy Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, said the rural industrialisation programme has been designed to cater for post-harvest losses of agricultural products, notably perishable ones, like vegetables, fruits, cashew and tuber crops.
The programme is also to enhance rural arts and trades like pottery, weaving, batik making, carpentry and promoting their domestic and external marketability.
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Juabeso (Western Region) 09 July 2001
Adwumapa Buyers Limited, a private cocoa buying company has introduced a bonus package to assist cocoa farmers to purchase insecticides.
Under the package, the company is paying 1,000 cedis on each bag of cocoa purchased from the seven cocoa areas it has been operating in the Ashanti, Brong-Ahafo, Western, Eastern and Central regions.
Mr Emmanuel Frank Taylor, Operations Manager of the company, who said this at a farmers' forum at Juabeso in the Juabeso-Bia District added that payment for the bonus has already begun.
He said the decision to provide the farmers with the support was taken with a view to helping them control the black-pod.
Mr Taylor called on the farmers to take advantage of the package to maintain their farms in order to increase the yield.
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Koforidua (Eastern Region) 09 July 2001
Mr. Isaac Osei, Managing Director of Intravenous Infusions Limited(IIL), a pharmaceutical firm, has commended the government for introducing the VAT Amendment Law, which makes it obligatory for all imported finished pharmaceutical products to attract the VAT.
He explained that the law has removed the unfair competition his company faced in the past when it had to pay VAT on its products manufactured locally while its competitors who imported finished pharmaceutical products never paid VAT on their imports.
Mr. Osei made the commendation when the Eastern Regional Minister, Dr. Francis Osafo-Mensah, visited the company to familiarise himself with its operations.
He expressed the hope that the stability of the cedi as against other foreign currencies could lead to other sound monetary policies that would lead to the reduction of interest rates and the cost of doing business in the country.
Mr. Samuel Appenteng, General Manager, said the company, which produces mainly intravenous infusions, has the capacity to meet all the nation's requirements.
The company is at the moments looking into the possibility of expanding its market to cover the West Africa sub-region.
Mr Appenteng said that, with the installation of some new machines in 1999, the company now produces small volume injectables like Chloroquine, Phosphate and Pethidine Hydrochloride.
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