Ghana’s leading total beverage company, Guinness Ghana Breweries Plc, has commissioned a new state-of-the-art brewhouse at its Achimota site in Accra.

The ¢145 million facility is part of the beverage company’s commitment to continuously investing in the country.

Commissioning the new plant, the Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry, Herbert Krapa, commended Guinness Ghana for the phenomenal achievement of the business over the last six decades.

“It is an example of what experience and innovation can help achieve. In a market that is highly competitive, Guinness Ghana has shown that paying attention to every little need of the consumer is a guaranteed prescription for success”, he added.

“Guinness Ghana’s local raw material programme is highly commended by government. The benefits of this monumental investment to the Ghanaian economy are vast. It means more jobs will be created in the manufacturing, distribution and sale of the products, increased revenue generation, many more farmers will be engaged in the out-grower schemes, and many more lives will be impacted positively”, the deputy minister intimated.

Mr. Krapa indicated that government’s flagship Planting for Food and Jobs programme is designed to enhance the capacity of farmers and to increase production of food and other agricultural products in the short to medium term; adding “maize and sorghum is an integral part of this programme. I believe Guinness Ghana’s exemplary efforts form a strong case to pay more attention to the production of these grains, as government is committed to supporting the manufacturing sector in the area of value addition”.

The Managing Director for Guinness Ghana, Helene Weesie briefing the gathering about the new brewhouse said this new addition to the business’ production capacity presents an opportunity for an increased demand for local raw materials since the primary raw materials for production at the new facility will be sorghum.

“Since 2003, Guinness Ghana has been using sorghum as an ingredient for the brewing of some of our brands such as Guinness Foreign Extra Stout and Malta Guinness. On the back of the LRM concession in 2012, as a business we have year on year made significant investment in the cultivation of sorghum, re-engineering our brands, as well as innovation of brands that solely uses more local materials”, Helene Weesie said.

She added that this new investment will certainly stimulate and impact the local economy, as Guinness Ghana’s ambition is to increase usage of total raw material to 70% by 2024 and is committed to the Local Raw Materials (LRM) initiative, which continues to inject significant investment into the agricultural value chain.

“We therefore we need all stakeholders to work together and an enabling policy environment as this initiative has sustainable shared value for all involved especially as it supports government’s Planting for Food and Jobs initiative”, Helene Weesie said.