Newmont revamps agric processing centre to supports agribusiness in mining communities

Newmont Africa has revamped a ginger and pepper processing centre to support agribusiness and food production in its mining communities and surrounding communities in the Asutifi North and South districts of the Ahafo Region.

The aim of the Asutifi Processing and Service Centre (APSC), established some years ago, is to add value to some agricultural products particularly ginger and pepper produced in the two districts in the region.

The APSC would help reduce post-harvest losses in the targeted crops, which currently stand over 30% in the two districts.

The centre is also expected to improve the earnings of farmers through value addition to their farm produce.

Madam Natalia Poku Bonzi, Assistant Programmes Manager for the Local Economic Diversification Project for Newmont Africa told some selected members of Journalists For Business Advocacy (JBA) that one of the initiatives of the Newmont Africa’s Local Economic Diversification Project gave birth to the Asutifi Processing and Service Centre (APSC).

She explained that the main objective of the APSC project was to introduce non-traditional crops to the area, which was mainly known for cocoa, their mainstay.

 But we also looked at non-traditional crops such as ginger, pepper, soya bean, maize, among others to boost food production in the area”.

The area after the feasibility of the mine and the introduction of the Newmont Ahafo South Mine, still needed agriculture to sustain food production.

During that process, the mining company and its team did a lot of feasibility studies and two main crops being-ginger and chilli pepper stood up for initial consideration.

To date, 460 farmer-based organisations (FBOs), cultivating about 130 acres: 80 acres for pepper and 50 acres for ginger.

More than 60% of the farmers who are within the Asutifi North and Asutifi South enclaves are women.

So, the centre is not bringing farm products from outside to feed the factory. But all these farmers are within the enclaves and are being provided with the necessary support.

The centre in partnership with GIZ trained the farmers in good agronomic practices, fertilizer application and pesticides, among others.

While a business school was organised for the farmers to enable them to market their farm produce to the centre and build their capacity on business management.

Now, the farmers in communities such as Kenyasi No.1, Kenyasi No.2, Ntotroso, Gyedu, Wamahinso, Hwidiem, Nkaseim and Nkrankrom are feeding the centre’s multi-million-dollar factory with fresh pepper for export, while ginger, pepper and mix will be processed for local and export when it starts fully after May this year.

The ginger and pepper will be processed into ginger powder, chilli powder and mixed powder (both chill pepper and ginger combined) and packaged in sachets for sale.

Touching more the fresh pepper, Madam Poku Bonzi explained: “We had another line of value chain where we can market, that is fresh pepper. So, we started with fresh pepper export, so we signed contract with Maphlix, an off taker in Tema and it took about seven tonnes of pepper from us. We exported them to the United States (U.S) last year”.

Indeed, Maphlix Trust Ghana Limited is a leading producer and exporter of fresh vegetables, roots, tubers, and fruits in Ghana. It sources them from its own farms and from a network of smallholder farmers in the country.

“We started with the fresh pepper now and full production will commerce after the launch in May ending”.

Conducting the journalists around the centre as part of their visit to Newmont Ahafo North Project being prepared for full-scale production in 2025, Madam Poku Bonzi revealed that from the feasibility till date, Newmont Africa has invested about $4 million into the APSC.

This amount went into buying the machines in the factory, the dryer, feasibility, paying staff at the APSC, and consultants.

The APSC currently has 17 direct staff and as it progresses, it will increase the direct staff strength to 34.

It is the farmer groups which are a lot. It started with 460 out-growers, and it is hoped to extend the number to about 5,000 farmers.

 We want to see this place as a hub for ginger and pepper farmers in the region and the country”.

The factory has a full production capacity of 550 metric tonnes annually for both ginger and processed pepper and it is expected to generate millions of cedis for the farmers.

Moving forward

Moving forward to the second phase, the centre Madam Poku Bonzi noted would continue with the out-grower scheme till the launch of the factory.

We are hopeful that by May ending, we will have the place fully equipped and we have the processed pepper and ginger for the market. We are envisaging to stalk supermarkets in Accra and in the local communities and the regional capitals with our processed pepper.

We also sell our processed pepper through the bulk market for companies like Sankofa Spices and others”.

The centre has gotten in touch with them through their market surveys and it is hopeful that when they get the centre’s samples, they would meet their standards and it would trade with them.

APSC products are free from chemicals

The Assistant Programmes Manager for the Local Economic Diversification Project for Newmont Africa who is in-charge of the APSC assured that the products produced by the centre are free from chemicals and the best for human consumption.

Madam Poku Bonzi explained, before the company buys raw materials (pepper and ginger) from the farmers, experts carefully examine them along with the materials undergoing several stages of quality checks before the final products are available on the market.

The centre funded by Newmont Africa possessed all the requisite certificates as per local guidelines and as such is safe for human consumption.

She therefore encouraged Ghanaians especially people in Asutifi North and South to patronise the products when they are on the markets to sustain the centre and to create jobs for both the teeming youth and adults.

Some farmers who were at the factory and led the team to their farms near the factory, said the APSC is beneficial to them.

In the sense, having difficulties in paying school fees for their kids and putting food on the tables, have been a thing of the past.

When the centre started

The APSC project, a joint initiative of Newmont Africa and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), a leading provider of German cooperation services, began in 2015 but suffered some bottlenecks in 2017.

So, the project started up to 2016 and suffered some bottlenecks. Three main bottlenecks it suffered were-raw materials to feed the factory, market for the produce, and management for the area”, Madam Poku Bonzi told the journalists.

So, around 2018, Newmont started to look around to also see some feasibility that could create jobs and solve some social impact within the mine area.

So, after going through the processes including retooling the factory, and replacing obsolete machines with new ones, the factory is ready to start full production after May this year.