Green Technology holds the key Ghana's solid future - Yankah

Accra, Oct. 10, GNA - Ghana's economy can be tremendously transfor= med within the short to medium terms, if Government takes concrete steps to embrace and vigorously promote green technology, President of African University College of Communication (AUCC), Mr Kojo Yankah, has said. Green technology, he said, was the blue print for the rapid transformation of the Asian economies, because they took bold policy decisions to promote green industry which were vital and viable strategies towards a green economy.

Basically, green technology is that in which the technology is environmentally friendly and is created and used in a way that conserves natural resources and the environment. Through the formation of an NGO to promote the concept of Green Econom= y and establishment of a University for the Green Technology and Communicatio= n in Ghana, Mr Yankah said, they were committed to spearheading the promotion of green technology in Ghana and in the whole of Africa. Speaking with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Accra recently, Mr Yankah said with the use of green technology, Ghana could make billions of dollars just by turning its agricultural wastes for the production of biodegradable products.

He said Ghana had advantage, because virtually all the agricultural wastes she generates from agricultural products like sugar, maize, and rice could be used to manufacture plastic bowls, buckets, flower pots, and many other degradable products for local consumption and more importantly for exports.

These wastes often seen piled up or heaped at various factories in the country are usually disposed of at huge cost to factory owners. When companies want to avoid such costs, the best they could is to burn the wastes but even at some cost, not to talk of its environmental effect. Uganda, he said, more than quadrupled its exports of organic agricultural products between 2003 and 2008, tapping into a global market o= f US$60 billion.

Mr Yankah referred to the Fourth United Nations Conference on Least Developed Countries (LDC) report, which indicates that with their low profile of rich natural and promising policy initiatives, LDCs are well-positioned to jump-start the transition to a green economy. He announced that through the initiative of his NGO, Africa2Green, one of the latest green technology invented by a Malaysian Professor called MZ-= 3 is being introduced into Ghana.

MZ-3 is the leading technology for industrializing and utilising agricultural waste, including straw stalks, grain shells and nuts shells. The technology can produce many different types of containers from flower pots to table wares. Currently, a wide range of flower pots manufactured with MZ-3 are exported to the US, Europe, Australia, South Korea, Japan and other countries.

The inventor, Professor Mouzhi Zhou, for the past 20 years have been engaged in ecological and environmental material research, especially with aspects of straw stalk with special focus on industrialisation and utilisation technologies. Mr Yankah said Africa2Green was poised to establish Green Technology Park in Ghana to service the West African Sub Region. He, however, acknowledged and lauded other green initiatives by the Government to promot= e green economy in the country. The Park seeks to provide immediate solution to the plastic manufacturing activities, a unique technology to produce biodegradable packaging from agric wastes and green opportunity to open up jobs, new idea= s and expand the national and regional economies.