The Agricultural Development Bank and Distributors of Ekumfi Fruit Juice have embarked on a tour at the Ekumfi Fruits and Juices Factory Limited.

The essence of the visit was for these two major stakeholders to familiarise themselves with the operations of the company and how the company was growing after rumours of a shutdown of the company’s operations.

Following the rumours and the subsequent discount of claims of the shutdown, the distributors of the company’s product undertook a tour of the facility to ascertain the true picture of the company’s standings.

The Agric Development Bank and the distributors of the company’s product expressed their excitement when the company took them around to inspect the 5000 acres of its pineapple plantations.

A distributor, Abena Konadu Acheampong, indicated after the tour, how impressed they were with the progress the company was making. She says they feel assured that they could stay in business knowing the remarkable steps that have been taken by the company.

She stated, “to say I am really impressed is an understatement. We’ve seen most of the sites and looking at what they have done, if the fruits should mature, I believe we would be able to get enough product to supply our customers.”

Abena Konadu believes, going forward, more people should be encouraged to invest in the production of the pineapples.

“More people have come to accept the product. When they tried it, they realized that it was good and they have never stopped patronizing it,” she said excitedly.

Her other colleague distributor, Josephine Asante, was extremely enthralled as well. She said she never anticipated it was a such a huge enterprise and one that involves financing and huge productions like that.

“We are the distributors and we have not been here before but what we have seen here gives us encouragement and confidence that we could stay in business with Ekumfi. All we will tell them is to produced more so we could increase our supplies,” he stressed.

Head of Agric Value Chain financing Department of the Agric Development Bank, Isaac Denkye Ansong, said the banks investment in the production of pineapple at Ekumfi Juice has been a worthwhile venture and they would do more to support Agric-related enterprises like that.

He indicated ADB had created a whole division solely for Agric financing.

Mr. Denkye Ansong explained, “we are financing their activities and we decided to make a project visit to the factory. We often come here to inspect progress of work done here. We are convinced with what is on the ground, and I must confess, the company is doing a yeoman’s job here.”

He revealed about 70% of the cost of production of the factory depended on land development and that’s why ADB was financing a part of that.

He further stated that they also considered financing irrigation to enable them to supply the product all year round.

“And that’s why you see the dam being conducted. So the company has even gone beyond our target,” he explained.

The Operations Manager of the local fruits Juice manufacturing company, Frederick Kobbyna Acquaah, added that the factory has been structured to showcase the best of Ghanaian ingenuity. They want people to support the company rather than being in haste to see it fall.

“You will be in Accra, in the middle of a meeting, and someone calls that he or she was at your factory, and so you should open the factory for them to see. If you don’t open the place up, they go and publish that the factory had shut down. This is a food production company, and we deserve to be given prior notice before you visit,” he emphasized.

He says, except for security issues or regulatory checks, people that go to the factory should follow the protocols just like they would in any establishment worldwide.

“This is your company, and this is what we own. Getting fixated on pouring out negatives is not progressive. Instead, we need to highlight the positives of the company by encouraging and suggesting so we could grow it together,” he stated.

The company intimated their pineapple production in all their 21 sites have been staggered to enable them to deal with the market's demands.