The Minister nominee for Trade, Agribusiness and Trade, Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare has said that one of the most touted trade policies of the New Patriotic Party, the One District, One Factory (1D1F) could not flourish as expected due to lack of raw materials and capital for the companies signed on to the initiative.

She made this known during her vetting in parliament on Wednesday, January 22, 2025.

Although she admits that the policy is a laudable initiative, Madam Ofosu-Adjare pointed out that the challenging factors hindered the companies from meeting their production capacities.

While answering a question posed by a former Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr. Stephen Amoah on improving the One District One Factory, she explained that “1D1F has its pluses and minuses. Factories were setup where value will be added to our raw materials. These agro-producing companies started but was not able to do what was expected of them.”

“One key challenge was the fact that these factories lacked raw materials. So these companies have not proceeded the way the government intentioned it to be,” she added. 

 She cited for example that the lack of proper planning to support the factories with capital resulted in a stalemate.

“Again even though government supported them with some input, they lacked capital and they have not been able to do their work as expected of them.”

The Techiman North MP blamed the struggles faced by factories under the programme noted that interests on loans provided was too high.

“Government under the programme capped interest rates for companies at 20% to ensure a reduction in the cost of production. Unfortunately interest rates shot up and government could not do much in terms of catering for the difference in the rate of credit after majority of companies had made production projections with 20%”, .

Madam Ofosu-Adjare blamed the situation as the main contributor to the slow growth of the programme.

“Somewhere along the line, the interest rate shot up to 35%. So the companies were faced with the challenge of not knowing who to pay for the remaining 15%.”

She further emphasized that the 24-hour Economy by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) will support the revival of the 1D1F initiative.

She assured that businesses will have access to a steady supply of raw materials with agribusiness playing a crucial role through commercial contract farming. This, Ofosu-Adjare said will substantially resolve the raw material challenge.