OMETECH PRODUCES INCUBATOR IN TAMALE (PAGE 30, DEC 18)

ONE significant achievement of this year’s National Farmers Day celebration is, perhaps, the introduction of an exhibition that afforded local small and medium- scale enterprises in the Northern Region the opportunity to showcase their potential and market them to the outside world.
The celebration, the 25th in the series, brought together 69 exhibitors including individuals, research institutions, farmers and entrepreneurs who showcased various types of farm produce and farming equipment during the week-long exhibition.
One thing that must not pass without comments was the manufacture of local equipment to support farming activities in Northern Ghana.
A poutry incubator, locally produced by Ometech, a Tamale-based incubator production firm, was the toast of both visitors and residents of the region who converged at the Jubilee Park to witness the exhibition.
The Managing Director of Ometech and Producer, Mr Jonathan Akpalu, told the Daily Graphic that the machines were in different shapes, sizes and capacities.
He explained that the incubators mounted at the stand had the capacity to hatch 200 eggs at a time with a 400 egg capacity chamber.
Mr Akpalu said the facility was produced to cater for both commercial and non-commercial purposes.
According to him, the equipment was being powered by electricity and kerosene, adding that it cost between GH¢500 and GH¢700, depending on its lifespan.
He, however, said his company could produce all types and sizes of incubators, depending on customers’ request.
The facility has an owner’s manual to facilitate its usage and help prolong its lifespan.
“This facility can hatch 200 set of eggs twice every month and it caters for all kinds of birds like guinea fowls, fowls, turkeys and ducks among others” he pointed out.
Other companies, like the Golden Stork Ghana Limited, producers of agro chemicals, displayed fertilisers and knapsack machines to support rural farmers.
Indeed, production of motor tricycles with a bucket at the rear to facilitate carting of farm produce from the farming communities to the marketing centres was also showcased by Zoomlion Ghana Limited.
A tricycle is being sold for GH¢3,500, but officials of the Zoomlion indicated that farmers who were willing to acquire the facility could pay in instalments.
Solar dryers for the drying of fruits, pepper, ginger and fish were among the locally made equipment mounted at the exhibition.
The dryers were produced by the Market Oriented Agricultural Programme of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) in collaboration with the German Technical Co-operation (GTZ) in Tamale.
The Crop Services Directorate of the MoFA in collaboration with the Export Marketing and Quality Awareness Project (EMQAP) displayed food items like the golden variety of pawpaw, the Baby Ravaya another variety of pawpaw, red chilli and the bird eye both varieties of pepper. The Cashew Development Project under the MoFA with sponsorship from the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Government of Ghana (GOG) also displayed varieties of cashew products such as the vacuum packed, cashew kernels, roasted, salted and spiced kernels, cashew brandy, gin, and juice.
According to the Regional Minister, Mr Stephen Nayina, the “biggest limiting factor to increased production of agricultural commodities is lack of market”.
A cursory look, however, at the various stands showed that derivatives of the sheanut, which arguably formed one of the most viable industries in the north was not well represented at the exhibition.
It is, however, hoped that with the inauguration of the $10 million ultra-modern sheanut processing factory at Buipe in the Central Gonja District, more will be achieved in that sector in the near future.