Sustainable job creation through industrialization in northern region - The Alan way

The concept of industrialization has become the number one development priority for Ghana.

This has become even more critical because of the problem of unemployment amongst the youth of Ghana.

The youth in Ghana, that is those under 25 years, make up half of the about 31 million Ghanaian population.

That's to say 15.5 million of Ghana’s population are youth.

In this write-up, I make the case for the Savelugu rice processing factory as a practical example of how the industrial revolution championed by Alan Kyerematen is leading to sustainable jobs in the northern region of Ghana.

It has become obvious that the concept of industrialization is by far the best and practical approach that can create sustainable jobs for these teeming youth.

The rice processing factory in Savelugu is another evidence of this "Industrial Wave".

The Savelugu Rice Processing Factory:

The government's industrialization agenda has birthed yet another evidence of the "Made in Ghana" vision through value addition.

The Savelugu rice processing factory is a GHC 7.5 million state-of-the-art complete facility comes with a laboratory and accommodation for employees.

This industrialization policy has been expertly delivered, thanks to Alan Kyerematen, the best Trades and Industry Minister in Africa.

What is the Common User Facility (CUF) Model:

The factory is operating under the practical policy called the Common User Facility (CUF).

This model of industrialization seeks to help farmers and farmer-based groups in Savelugu to become owners of the factory.

This means the various rice farmers estimated to be around 600, will be sustainably employed.

The factory will serve as an avenue for them to grow and process their rice for the Ghanaian market and possibly for export through AfCFTA.

Also of note is that the state-of-the-art machinery at the factory will help cut the difficulty of manually going through the different stages of rice preparation from harvesting through to post-harvest.

Food security through industrialization:

Many rice farmers tend to find rice farming tedious especially those who undertake the manual preparation of rice from their farms.

The CUF will lessen the burden of rice farmers and will motivate more farmers to try rice farming again.

Many farmers planting rice means there will be more rice from Savelugu and this eventually adds to Ghana's food security.

The abundance of rice will lead to price reduction based on the principle of economics that states that the more there’s a supply of a product it will less costly it becomes because of it’s abundance.

In this sense, the issue of hunger is also addressed and food security is established.

The best part of this CUF concept is the fact that the different stages of rice processing are all centralized.

This gives a higher quality and standardized rice that meets regulatory standards been produced from the factory in Savelugu.

Marketing and branding for the African market:

On Friday the 6th of August 2021, the President of Angola together with a team of investors engaged Ghanaian business professionals at the AfCFTA secretariat in Accra.

Accra is now the new commercial or trading center of Africa as more Heads of state and investors will throng the city in the coming months with the start of trading under AfCFTA already underway.

Ghana stands ready and well-positioned with world-class products from the 104 operational factories under the 1D1F concept.

This presents a perfect opportunity for the country to earn foreign exchange through exports by penetrating the market of the second-biggest trading bloc after the WTO is finally here.

This is what I call the "Strategic Integration of Ghana's Industrialization".

This illustrates the interconnectivity of the industrial revolution underway in Ghana;

(I)Rice from farms

(II) Rice processed at the factory

(III) Processed rice enters the domestic market.

(IV) Fully branded and well-packaged rice advancing to the continental market.

The net effect is a multiplicity of jobs through more production and processing to the Northern Region of Ghana.

How Graduates in Savelugu can Profit from the Downstream sector :

This is a perfect opportunity for graduates in the Northern region to benefit from the downstream sector of the rice factory.

The graduates can take these finished rice, package and market them to the domestic market. This high-quality "Made in Ghana" rice that meets international standards will generate demand and lead to increased incomes for these youth.

These graduates also have a great opportunity to get support from the GEA through the BRC's in the Northern part of Ghana and reap the numerous rewards of this CUF model of industrialization.

Conclusion:

Currently, there are five (5) of these Common User Facilities (CUF) in Ghana with support from the African Development Bank (AfDB).

The industrialization approach is the catalyst to bridging the gap of unemployment amongst the youth.

Strategic Integration of this process will yield to Ghana taking full advantage of the headquarters of AfCFTA in Ghana.

The country is on the right path to sustainable job creation and economic emancipation.