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President Kufuor inaugurates tractor assembling plant in
Kumasi
Kumasi, Oct. 17, Ghanadot/GNA – The Government’s efforts at
transforming the face of the country’s agriculture through
mechanization has received a major boost with the
inauguration by President John Agyekum Kufuor of a tractor
assembling plant and technology transfer centre in Kumasi.
It is a partnership between the Zoomlion Ghana Limited,
Mahindra and Mahindra of India, reputed to be one of the
topmost tractor manufacturing companies in the world, and
the Garages Association of Ghana.
The Plant would have 70 per cent of the tractor parts
assembled locally, with just 30 per cent imported from
India.
It is expected to initially provide jobs for more than 200
including, welders, steel benders, auto mechanics and
apprentices from various garages across the country, and
this President Kufuor noted would undoubtedly help to
enhance technology transfer to the youth to move the economy
forward.
Mechanization of agriculture from land preparation through
planting, crop maintenance to harvesting, processing and
storage is crucial to achieving the country’s goal of
producing enough for food self-sufficiency and for export.
It was for this reason that the Government has brought in
about 3,000 agricultural tractors with matching accessories
and varied equipment for processing and storage.
Mr Anand G. Mahindra, President of the Indian Company, said
they were poised to deliver on the goal of making the
project a success by producing quality and competitively
priced tractors to aid Ghana’s drive towards increased
agriculture production.
Mrs Florence Larbi, General Manager of Zoomlion, said the
Plant would serve as practical training ground and
technology transfer centre for students from the nation’s
universities, polytechnics and technical institutions,
majoring in metal fabrication and mechanical engineering.
Professor Frimpong Boateng, Head of the Cardio-therapy
Centre of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, who chaired the
function, observed that no country ever developed without
acquiring the capacity to make machines, adding that the
“poverty gap is a technology gap.”
He therefore encouraged the Zoomlion to work closely with
other organizations such as SMIDO so that engineering,
especially fabrication, manufacturing and machine tooling
would gain root not only in Kumasi but the entire nation.
GNA
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