State of the Wenchi Tomato Factory
The Wenchi Municipality in the Brong Ahafo Region is noted for the production of tomatoes as production dominates farming activities in the area.
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Tomato traders come from far and near, especially from Kumasi and Accra to buy the produce.
The irony of the situation is that during bumper harvests the price of tomatoes go down and a great part of tomatoes is left in the farms to rot.
It is against this backdrop that the Wenchi Tomato Factory was established to help solve this problem.
The factory, located about two kilometers away on the Wenchi-Ofuman road, was into the processing of canned tomato.
GIHOC
The factory was one of the factories established under the Ghana Industrial Holding Corporation (GIHOC) in the 1960’s to facilitate the country’s industrialisation.
It is believed that more than 300 factories/industries were established under GIHOC to help the rapid industrialisation of the country.
Employment
The Wenchi Tomato Factory, besides offering employment to the people was also a ready market for the tomato farmers.
The establishment of the factory also encouraged other people to go into tomato farming which led to the production of tomatoes in abundance.
Factory shut down
Unfortunately, the factory was shut down some years after the overthrow of the first regime in February 24, 1966.
The closure of the factory brought hardship to the farmers and some of them therefore quit tomato farming.
The factory remained closed for many years but was later given to a private company known as Afriquid Company Limited which is into tomato and maize production.
When the Daily Graphic visited the factory, it realised that the infrastructure, especially factory buildings, were in a good condition.
There were no workers at the factory during the visit and no business was going on with the exception of the security person who said the managing director and the manager had travelled outside the country.
The security person who later refused to talk to the Daily Graphic said they were into tomato processing but as of the time of the visit the factory had been shut down.
However, he said the machines were in a good state.
The Wenchi Tomato Factory was a big asset to the tomato producers in the area and the reactivation of the factory will go a long way to boost tomato production in the municipality.
