District industrialisation to take off January 2014

The Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, has said the government will establish the District Small Scale Industrialisation Initiative (DSSII) by January 2014 in all districts to help create jobs for the youth.

He said the Export Development and Agriculture Investment Fund Act would be revised to facilitate the funding of the DSSII under the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI).

Mr Iddrisu said this when Mr Adamu Sulley, the Chairman of the National Food and Agric Show, paid him a courtesy visit in Accra on Tuesday.

The visit was to seek his ministry’s support and collaboration in organising the fifth Food and Agriculture Show in October.

The minister said the DSSII in each district would be given enough funds through the NBSSI to place them on sound footings.

He said each district had been tasked to come out with two strategic projects based on agriculture or other natural resources available in their jurisdictions to be classified under DSSII for funding.

He said Ghana was, undoubtedly, an agrarian economy and the availability of food and its pricing index was of relevance to the government in its desire to maintain a single digit inflation.

He suggested to the National Food and Agric Show to rename the “Food and Agric Show” as “Food, Export and Agric Show” to reflect the fact that it was not just about food and agriculture, but the export market as well.

Mr Iddrisu appealed to all entrepreneurs in the food and agriculture sector to partake in the fifth Food and Agric Show, saying, “let’s use the platform to add value to our agricultural products".

Mr Sulley said the “Food and Agric Show” would be held in Accra in October at the Efua Sutherland’s Children’s Park, and it would serve as a means of building a solid marketing foundation to ensure that the value chain was sustained.

He said the focus of the show would be on food, agriculture and trade and targeted at people within the agricultural sector.