This is due to the fact that the company, which is based in Ekumfi Abor in the Ekumfi District of the Central Region, has discovered new market potential in those areas.
The company’s expansion strategy and the demand for pure, unadulterated pineapple juice in those countries, according to Mr. Frederick Kobbyna Acquaah, director of operations at Ekumfi Fruits and Juices Limited, drove the decision.
“We have done all the preparatory works and are now working on our export documents and by the middle of the year we will begin exporting to those markets,” he stated.
Mr Acquaah, who took journalists round the pineapple farms of Ekumfi Fruits and Juices Limited to acquaint themselves with the operations and production processes, said the opportunity to enter the US, UK as well as Dubai markets would help sell Ghana internationally.
He said the company had more than 3000 acres of pineapples in cultivation.
The farms, which are the company’s own pineapple farms, are located at Obri in the Gomoa West, Ekumfi Sardo near Otuam and Ekumfi Edumafa in the Ekumfi District.
The director of operations said the farms were being expanded and the intention was to increase
The farms to 6,000 acres and subsequently to 12,000 to meet the increasing demand for pineapples for the factory and also for the sustainability of the company.
“The new market we have found in US, UK, and Dubai have also necessitated the increase of our farms,” Mr Acquaah stated.
He dismissed some media reports that the company had collapsed.
Mr Acquaah explained that the company has not shut down, saying the company produced based on demand to maximise economies of scale.
“Whatever we produced has already been sold,” Mr Acquaah said.
He said the company currently produced five various types of ‘Eku Juice’ and plans were advanced to introduce three additional variants.
He explained that the factory, established at a cost of $20 million under the One District, One Factory initiative, had the capacity to process ten tonnes of pineapple per hour which translated to four acres of pineapple farm.
He said the company had more than 1000 workers who mostly were on the farms, adding that the factory had more than 75 professionals.
The Director of Operations said the company was running a double-shift system and the expansion plan would help triple it.
He said the establishment of the factory had helped to create jobs and improve the economy of the area in which the factory was established.
As part of the programme, Mr Acquaah took the journalists round the $10 million Central Citrus Processing Limited at Abura-Asebu in the Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese District.
Mr Acquaah said the Central Citrus Processing Limited was a factory he was “mentoring”.
He said the factory would process citrus oil from the peels of oranges for export, while Ekumfi Fruits and Juices Limited used the pulp for citrus juice.
He said the factory was located in a citrus production enclave and would help address the post-harvest losses of the citrus produced in the area and boost the economies of towns around the factory.
On corporate social investment, Mr Acquaah said the company was delivering on its corporate social responsibility by awarding scholarships and providing sanitation facilities to communities in the catchment area of the company.
The Ekumfi Fruits and Juices Limited was established in 2019, under the One District, One Factory initiative.