The company is further expected to produce an additional 10,000 tonnes by June 2015 when it could not even produce a thousand metric of starch last year.

Currently, the factory is crippled with productivity, management, sup­ply and technical challenges that com­pelled the workers to lay down their tools some months ago.

Mr Kweku Ricketts-Hagan, the Deputy Minister of Trade and Indus­try, has said the government was mak­ing efforts to put the factory in the hands of the private sector to inject the required capital to help boost produc­tion and achieve its targets.

He said during a visit to the com­pany that it was imperative that indus­tries were run by the private sector, with the government being a share­holder to give the companies the needed support to succeed.

According to the Minister, though a definitive decision had not been made yet, the government was looking for a partnership that would involve a Ghanaian and a foreigner, or a Ghana­ian, to resolve the problems of ageing machines and other issues of the com­pany, to enhance productivity.

He said the arrangement was in line with government's private partnership policy of involving the private sector in giving a big boost to local indus­tries, adding that "companies and in­dustries are better run by the private sector than the government."

The Managing Director of the com­pany, Mr James Bitir, said insufficient supply of electricity was a major con­tributor to the factory's inability to meet operational targets.

The Ayensu Starch Factory was set up in 2003 as an agro-processing busi­ness involved in the processing of cas­sava into food grade starch for local consumption and export.