The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, inspected the works of Central Oil Mills Limited, an all-Ghanaian agribusiness company located in Jukwa Mfuom / Asamanso in the Hemang Lower Denkyira district of the central region, specializing in palm oil. palm oil development and processing, and operates under the 1-District-1-Factory government initiative.

President Akufo-Addo visited the factory on Tuesday, October 19, 2020, the second day of his 2-day tour of the central region.

As part of the government’s industrial transformation program, Central Oil Mills, established in 2010, has been identified as one of the potentially viable but struggling companies.

To this end, an organizational audit was carried out by a team of technical consultants from the Ministry of Trade and Industry, who recommended the company to Ghana EXIM Bank for support under the One District One Factory program ( 1D1F).

Ghana Exim Bank on November 21, 2018 approved a GH ¢ 12 million medium term loan facility for Central Oil Mills Limited to undertake three main activities:

These are the rehabilitation and expansion of an existing primary crude palm oil processing plant in Jukwa-Mfoum, the creation of a brand new secondary oil palm processing plant (with added value). ) in Jukwa-Asamanso, with a capacity to process vegetables (canned and bottled products), and the expansion and development of the oil palm plantation.

The Bank subsequently approved an additional loan of GH ¢ 2 million for the project, bringing the total loan amount approved for the project to GHS 14 million.

The new Asamanso plant and Mfuom expansion works are approximately 95% and 90% complete, respectively, and are both expected to be fully completed by November 30, 2021.

The project includes the extension of an existing palm oil plant with an initial capacity of 2,400 metric tonnes of fresh fruit bunches (FFB) per year into a larger plant with a minimum capacity of 12,000 metric tonnes FFB per year on a single shift, with the ability to perform double shifts.

At a yield of 20%, this will produce 2,400 metric tonnes of palm oil per year which could be processed into canned and bottled secondary products. In addition, through the revitalization process, the company increased its storage capacity from 30 metric tons to 150 metric tons.

The company rehabilitated its existing oil palm plantation and started the process of expanding its plantation by 200 acres per year over five years. This is supported by the acquisition of new trucks and agricultural implements to support cultivation and transportation. The company also has existing core farms in Jukwa Mfuom and its surroundings as well as around fifty independent growers.

The project is expected to create a minimum of 200 direct jobs from its current workforce of 30 when fully operational. More than 500 indirect jobs will be created within two years on the two sites of the factory and the plantation.

Buyers from South Africa, Italy, the Netherlands and Nigeria are already in talks with the company for the export of finished products, hence the opportunity to generate foreign exchange for the country.