Maphlix Trust Ghana Limited has announced plans to build a pack-house at its farming and processing operations located on the outskirts of Tadzewu in the Volta region.

The packhouse, which will be the biggest in West Africa with a capacity to store about 250 tonnes of farm produce, is expected to take off by December this year.

This followed a recent announcement by Maphlix to set up a factory to process orange-fleshed sweet potato and cassava into food recipes to give employment to 200 people and benefit about 500 out-growers in the Ketu North Municipality.

Mr Felix Mawuli Kamassah, the Managing Director, who disclosed this when he hosted Togo's Ambassador to Ghana at the 2,000-acre Farms, said the prospect of the pack-house was to help reduce post-harvest losses and to improve the economic livelihoods of smallholder farmers.

Maphlix is the leading producer and exporter of fresh vegetables, roots and tubers in Ghana with the produce sourced from its farms (cultivated on 700 acres of the total acreage) and out-grower network of smallholder farmers, comprising about 30 per cent women in the Volta Region.

The entrepreneur with significant experience in horticulture said the proposed pack-house would address the problem of post-harvest losses and build a sustainable raw material base for processing and export.

Mr Kamassah said it would also help extend the shelf life and quality of produce thus, securing additional sales contracts with foreign-based customers and supplying the domestic market with horticultural products.

He indicated that Maphlix had contacted Absa Bank to tackle the funding challenge for the project, saying the bank "has approved a loan facility for us since May and we're just waiting for them to do the disbursement."

Mr Dela Gadzanku, Chairman of Volta and Eastern Regional Chapter of the Association of Ghana Industries, led the Ambassador and his team to visit Maphlix Trust Farms and one other, Flossel Farms, Sogakope belonging to Mr Evans Danso, the West African Aquaculturist of the year 2020.

The team later visited Dr Archibald Yao Letsa, Volta Regional Minister as part of the Ambassador's two-day tour of the region to explore business opportunities.

Awoki Panassa, the Togolese Ambassador, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said he was impressed with what he saw on the farms, noting the vision and innovation being employed were worth emulating not just in his home country but across Africa.

He called for partnership among citizens on the continent to expand the agricultural sector to promote their respective economies to provide jobs for the teeming youth.