Nyaho-Tamakloe Visits Agric Fair At Novi Sad

On Saturday, 20th May, 2006, His Excellency Dr. Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe paid a visit to the 72nd Agricultural Fair being held in Novi Sad. The three-day Fair which was in its last day, had on display various agricultural equipments and machinery, many of which were manufactured locally. Others were imported mainly from Italy and assembled by local firms in Serbia.

2. Among the firms visited by His Excellency were Rakovica Ago, Ba?ka Palanka, Agro Top and Industrija Mašina i Traktora A.D. (IMT) of Belgrade. Of special interest was the IMT Stand which had on display locally-manufactured universal tractors of various capacities which could weed, plough, irrigate and also remove wooden studs to prepare farm-lands for cultivation. Also, on display at the Stand was the 539DLI 2 Wheel Drive Tractor which production was started by the company in 1953 and is still in production. This particular brand was being exported to Ghana some twenty years ago.

3. Briefing His Excellency prior to his visiting the stand, the President of the Board of Directors of IMT, Mr. Radomir Belosevac, gave a profile of the company which he noted had been in existence for the past fifty (50) years producing tractors and agricultural machinery under license from Massey Ferguson. The President noted that, in recent years, IMT had been producing these products with new developments and modifications.

4. The company, he added, was producing a total of 800,000 tractors and some 700,000 accessories prior to the imposition of sanctions on the former Yugoslavia in 1992 and were exported to over one hundred (100) countries in the ‘West’, America and Africa, excluding Eastern Europe and Russia.

5. He, however, lamented that after the sanctions, production levels slumped to one thousand three hundred (1,300) in 1999, noting that the company’s best period in recent times was recorded in 1990 with a total tractor production level of forty thousand (40,000). With one of the best competitive pricing policy on the market, IMT was stepping up its production level gradually.

6. Responding to enquiries from His Excellency, the President of the IMT Board disclosed that currently the company is not represented in West Africa and Ghana for that matter though it used to have one in Tunis years back. He, however, was optimistic of such a possibility in the near future, possibly in Ghana. He further pointed out that IMT’s product could be designed to suit tropical conditions, hence the possibility of producing to suit customer specification. That has been done previously for an Algerian company.

7. The President also expressed optimism about building an Assembling Plant in Africa since that company used to have one in Pakistan and Algeria as well as a factory by name, TAFEL in India.

8. On the question of the ownership status of IMT, the President noted that presently, the company which is owned by the State is in the process of being privatized. He observed that TAFEL from India had expressed interest in buying IMT.

9. Referring to the type of fuel used by IMT’s cultivators and combined harvesters for corn, wheat and rice which were more suitable for the Ghanaian environment, the President disclosed that the products were all diesel based and therefore economical to use.

10. In his observations, His Excellency expressed his positive impressions about the products of IMT and assured the President of the Board of his determination to convey to the competent authorities in Ghana what he had observed on the day, particularly at the IMT Stand, for further necessary action. He expressed the wish that Ghanaian companies and businessmen would, in the near future, enter into business partnership with IMT for their mutual benefit.

11. His Excellency, later had a try at the various tractors on display at the Stand. He, also, had a view of some newly designed models which were powered by John Deere engines, with the possibility of installing air-conditioning system in them so as to suit the warm tropical weather. He finally conveyed his profound gratitude to the President of the IMT Board for taking time off his busy schedule to brief him about the company and also conduct him round the Stand.