The management of the Ekumfi Fruit and Juice Factory at Ekumfi Nanaben in the Central Region has dispelled false reports levelled against it by the MP of the constituency, Mr. Abeiku Crentsil.
According to the MP, the company has collapsed. He also protested the management failure to pay its staff.
Journalists from Yes FM unannounced visit to the factory saw staff at the factory right from the main entrance to the factory working in a good and high spirit.
The team witnessed a full scale production of EKUJUICE and visited the finished products area where they saw large scale of the products in different varieties.
“We are into full production, and we have been accepted nationwide and even the boundaries of the country. We are switching to the next gear, that’s why investors coming in [to invest]” and as it has been quoted, we witnessed the necessary documents involving the international exporting.
This, as you know is the one district one factory, so there is enormous support from the 1DIF Secretariat. This trip is also important because of some negative reportage that the factory isn’t functioning properly and also staff are not being paid according to the Member of Parliament for Ekumfi constituency, Hon. Abeiku Crentsil”.
The Ekumfi Fruits and Juice Factory is under the government’s flagship programme, One District One Factory.
The factory has numerous staff who are even fed on regular basis with different cuisine.
“The factory is in full operation, salaries are being paid in full and even in December, Salaries were paid for a month and half all for Christmas packages”, Management said.
Ekumfi Juice factory is a wholly Ghanaian-owned company and has one of the most modern, automated agro-processing plants in the country.
Its first batch of products that hit the markets in 2020 was made of raw pineapple and citrus fruits, which came in a 250ml tetra pack.
With more than 3,000 acres of pineapple farm, employing huge number of staffs isnt news, the factory had created direct employment opportunities for over 550 people including engineers, food scientists, marketing professionals, accountants, and technicians for it’s maiden operation.
In addendum, more than 3000 indirect job opportunities in Ekumfi and other adjoining districts have been created and this is evidential.
The facility is the biggest fruit processing factory in West Africa, with the capacity to process 10 tons of fruits per hour.
Funded by the Exim Bank Ghana Limited, the agricultural industrial intervention has significantly gingered the spirit of entrepreneurship in many Ghanaians as its office keeps receiving quantities of business proposals from various entities and persons across the world.
Meanwhile, the $10m Dollors worth of the gad has moved up to 30milion Dollars.
The factory is expected to export 8 containers every month to their foreign partners.
The company also seeks to expand and sustain its 19 shared-grower sites established in Ekumfi Nanaben, Narkwa, Abor, Eyisam, Otuam, Egyaakwa, Asaman, and Gyankoma.
In all, share-growers engaged at the Gyankoma sites have cultivated nearly 600 acres of pineapples and keep planting every day to meet the eight-acre demand of pineapples.
The Factory on it own has over 3000 acres of land for farming and this alone has created direct jobs for more than 1000 people.
Ekumfi Sardo and Gomoa Obiri are some of the communities where you can locate these Lands.
