The Minister of Trade and Industry, John Kwadwo Alan Kyerematen, has commissioned the Savelugu rice processing factory.

The rice factory which is a One District One Factory common user facility is a farmer-owned agro industrial processing facility established with seed funding from the Ministry of Trade and Industry under the rural enterprise programme.

The Savelugu rice processing factory which has the state of the art processing equipment has the capacity to produce between 1.5 and 28 tons of processed rice per hour.

The total cost of the factory is said to be about GHȼ7,375,000 including the cost of factory building, processing, and machinery. The Minister also commissioned the Savelugu Technology Solution Centre.

The Savelugu Rice Processing Factory started in January 2020 and completed in July 2021. The rice factory is one of five built across the country.

Speaking at a ceremony to commission the factory, the Minister said the factory will open up more business opportunities in the area. He said it will also give the farmers easy access to process their rice and increase rice cultivation.

”This commissioning will also enhance industrial production in this community because from processing of rice you can produce so many other products such as poultry feed and bear alcohol and other beverages from the processing of rice ” he said.

Mr. Kyeremateng said the factory is a perfect example of community ownership of business and therefore urged the people to take advantage.

”This factory is owned by almost 730 farmers, 70 percent owned by these farmers, 10 percent by traditional authority, 10 percent by the assembly and remaining 10 percent by the government and this is a new model for business development in our country which allows the people to own their businesses” the Minister said.

The Northern Regional Minister, Alhaji Shani Alhassan Shaibu, said the commissioning of the two projects will be a catalyst to bring development to the people of the Northern region.

“This facility has a direct relationship with agriculture which is the mainstay of the region because the majority of the people are directly or indirectly into agriculture and therefore there will be no progress and development in this region without paying attention to agriculture” he said.

The Executive Director of Rural Enterprise Project, Kwesi Arthur, on his part said the strategic position of Savelugu made it possible for the Ministry of Trade and Industry to establish these facilities. He said the two facilities will help boost local production.