Dr Acheampong(left)presenting bananas to Mr Rich at the programme

 The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr Bryan Acheampong, has commended Golden Exotic Limited (GEL), a banana grower and export company, for its contribution to the country’s socio-economic development.

He said the company con­tributed over 60million Euros annually in foreign exchange and injected over 20million Euros to the economy through salaries, purchases, electricity and rent.

At the 20th anniversary of the company last week, Dr Acheampong said GEL’s success underlined the strong public and private sector ties in agricultural development, leveraging government incen­tives and facilities.

The anniversary brought together Ministers of State, members of the diplomat­ic corps, traditional rulers, Municipal and District Exec­utives, Civil Society Organi­sations and other dignitaries who later toured the planta­tion.

The Minister stated that the company’s aim to expand its market in West Africa and export 80 per cent of products to Europe had shown its desire to capitalise on the opportuni­ties presented by the African Continental free Trade Area (ACFTA).

He, therefore, assured of government’s commit­ment to ensure that the road challenge hampering the company’s operations would be resolved to alleviate the financial burden on the com­pany.

The Managing Director of GEL, Benedict Rich said as part of efforts to maximise crop yields, GEL had resorted to the use of drone technolo­gy in Asutsuare in the Eastern region.

In collaboration with the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), he said, the drones were being used to monitor the company’s banana planta­tion to identify areas of needs in order to optimise farming

 From Anita Nyarko-Yirenkyi, Asutsuare