Minister-designate for Ashanti Region, John Alexander Ackon, has said the days where timber production was booming in the Ashanti Region are over because there are no more trees to cut for people to stay in business.
The production of gold, he added, is also on the decline.
The situation, according to him, is impacting negatively on the local economy since many of the timber firms have collapsed and rendered so many people jobless.
However, he said there is hope for the region because of the enormous job creation potentials the production of food crops has to offer.
He told the Appointments Committee of Parliament, Monday, that one of his priorities as far as industrialization in the Ashanti Region was concerned was to boost the production of food crops in the region.
This, he argued, was the best alternative in the creation of jobs following the extinction of timber and the decline of gold production in the Ashanti Region.
“For now timber has drastically come down and gold is also on the decline. But with food crops, because the production is huge, there is the need to critically look into that area”, he noted.
Mr. Ackon was answering to a question posed by the Committee on whether he would consider industrialization as the pivot of economic development rather than the production of raw materials as well as which industry he would also consider necessary to bring about the best economic activities in the region.
When asked if he supports a cross section of the public advocating for some percentage of the MPs Common Fund to finance festivals in the country, Mr. Ackon, a former deputy Minister for the Ashanti Region retorted “since cultural festivals are meant to promote the community, I have no problem with that”.
