By Cecil MENSAH
(cecilm@businessdayghana.com)
A multi-million cedi waste-to-food compost fortifier plant has been inaugurated to produce five hundred metric tons of fertilizers annually to boost the much touted ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’ declared by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.
The plant will transform 12,500 metric tonnes of liquid and solid waste to useful products in the Accra-Tema metropolitan areas.
The plant, built through a Public Private Partnership arrangement between waste company Jekora Ventures Limited and the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA), is worth US$650,000.
The plant is expected to halt the importation of chemical fertilizers onto the Ghanaian market by providing normal and pelletized composts that are enriched with organic fertilizers.
It is anticipated that the sale price of 50 kilograms of organic fertilizer will be set at GHC25 and likely to be adjusted depending on market demand and subsidies.
The plant will be managed by Jekora Ventures Limited with assistance from the International Water Management Institute (IWMI).
Speaking at the launch at Borteyman near Tema in the Greater Accra Region on the theme: ‘’Waste to Food, Innovating Sanitation to Feed the Nation,” Ing. Immanuel Nartey-Tokoli, Managing Director of Jekora Ventures, said his company is committed to the project and dedicated to producing an affordable new organic fertilizer named fortifier.
He said the compost fortifier made through processing human waste and other organic waste is safe and nutrient-rich compost to boost farming.
According to him, the establishment of the plant represents bold move to confront the challenges that Ghana and other African countries face when it comes to handling domestic waste which threatens human and environmental health.
He explained that next year the company intends producing and marketing 500 tons of the product by investing US$90,000 in the plant’s operation and maintenance as well as commercialization.
‘’The PPP arrangement offers a unique business model to combine resources to commercialize a research product based on appropriate low-cost technology in a developing economy such as Ghana,” he stressed.
Unveiling the plant, Joseph Kofi Adda, Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, said the Ministry’s agenda cannot be without waste management.
He said the project is an example government intends to use to deal with the waste management challenges in the country.
He mentioned that the Ministry will collaborate with the private sector to deal with the waste management challenges in the country.
