John Dramani Mahama, flag bearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has said he will revive the Zuarungu Meat Factory when he is voted into power after the December elections.
The GIHOC Zuarungu Meat Product Company Limited was inaugurated by Dr Kwame Nkrumah in 1965 to produce canned beef for consumption domestically and for export.
It was, however, closed down in 1995 after 30 years of operation due to mismanagement.
It is estimated that Ghana will run out of beef in one week and chicken in five days; if frozen meat importers stop their operations since the country is 90% dependent on import when it comes to meat.
Some 243 thousand metric tons of meat costing in excess of 2.4 billion dollars land on the shores of Ghana every year making meat one of the cardinal factors piling exchange rate pressures on the local currency.
The supply chain from the farm gate to processing floors to sales outlets is estimated to hold millions of dollars in revenues and thousands of jobs, unfortunately, going to countries like South America, Europe, Burkina Faso and Niger where Ghana sources its meat imports.
To avert the challenge, John Mahama says he is going to revive the country to operate under his 24-hour economy to ensure many youth in the area get jobs.
“When we come to office in 2025, it’s about jobs, jobs and jobs. And that is why we are advocating the 24-hour economy. When I was doing the ‘Building Ghana Tour’, I promised Zuarungu Naba and all the chiefs here, that one of our priorities when we come back, will be to revive Kwame Nkrumah’s Zuarungu Meat Factory. And when we revive the meat factory, it will work 24 hours so that all the youth here will get work to do,” he noted.
Source:onuaonline.com