She made the appeal after touring the facility as a follow-up to the assurance made by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to revamp the facility in fulfilment of the government’s One District, One Factory initiative.

Ms Koomson said if the factory was put into full operation, it would create more jobs for the people in the area.

She expressed her disappointment at the current state of the facility which previously had over 1,000 workers, but has now become a pale shadow of itself.

Major cotton production area

The minister said the factory was established in the area because of soil compatibility studies conducted in the Sissala East District.

She further stated that the company had now changed over to cereal production owing to alleged low prices offered them and lack of incentives.

Ms Koomson said the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) had already concluded plans to revive cotton production in the area.

She further stated that Ghana’s cotton production reached 45,000 tonnes per annum in the 1990s, but the figure dropped to 20,000 tonnes in the last 10 years. 

Ms Koomson said to trigger development in the area, the ginnery should be back to full operations to provide employment and guarantee income security.

Agric hub

She said the government was prioritising the savannah zone as a hub of President Nana Akufo-Addo’s agricultural transformation programme.

"The SADA zone is 54.4 per cent of Ghana, over eight million hectares of arable land, 95 medium and 23 larger dam sites, and over 400 billion cubic metres of run-off water annually," she said.

With plans to boost agriculture for employment and food security, the minister noted that most projects being undertaken by the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority set the pace for implementation and excellent results for the government’s agriculture initiative within the shortest possible time.

Dams

Ms Koomson gave an assurance that the government was starting with the construction of small and medium dams across the three regions of the north.