President Mbasogo interacting with Mr and Mrs David Lamptey, CEO and MD of the SIDALCO Limited at the inaugural ceremony of the SIDALCO factory. With them is President Mills.
Visiting President Teodoro Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea yesterday joined his host, President John Evans Atta Mills, to inaugurate one of the largest fertiliser plants in Africa, which is situated off the Spintex Road, near Tema.
The $70-million liquid fertiliser and fungicide plant is owned by Sidalco Company Limited, whose Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is Mr David Lamptey, a former Member of Parliament (MP) for Korle Klottey.
Inaugurating the plant, President Mills reiterated that agriculture remained the pivot of the government's economic agenda to better the lot of the people.
According to him, the government will continue to support the agricultural sector to produce food in abundance and at reasonable prices for the broad masses of the people.
He said the promotion of agricultural activities by the government could go a long way to reduce the rate of inflation in the country and also the country's bill on food imports.
President Mills stated that the nation was blessed with fertile lands and massive water bodies, which are veritable assets and for which the government would seize the opportunity to encourage the people to go into agriculture for increased food and cash crop production.
He pointed out that the government would encourage local entrepreneurs in the agriculture sector to produce inputs locally for the sector, which engaged more than 50 per cent of the country's population.
In doing so, President Mills pointed out, local companies would be able to employ more people, pay more taxes to the government and export their products to other countries in the West African sub-region.
"My presence here today is to underscore two points, one is to showcase the trends that our local entrepreneurs have been able to achieve and also to reiterate the government's commitment to partnering the private sector to rebuild the nation," he said.
He commended Mr Lamptey and his wife for their vision and focus, which had culminated in the establishment of the plant, expressing the hope that it would boost the agricultural sector in the country and beyond.
For his part, President Mbasogo described his visit to Ghana as an eye opener, stressing that the country had chalked up great strides in the area of agriculture, local government and democracy in general.
He said his country, which had deficits in food production, had a lot to learn from the Ghanaian experience to boost its agricultural activities.
President Mbasogo said he was impressed that such a massive project was undertaken by Ghanaians and stressed that his country would always liaise with the company in his government’s bid to produce more food to feed its people.
The CEO of Sildaco, Mr Lamptey, said the company was poised to undertake more research work to turn out more products to meet the needs and demands of farmers in the country and elsewhere.
He commended President Mills and President Mbasogo for gracing the occasion, stressing that their presence was a demonstration that leaders on the continent were prepared to promote the activities of the private indigenous sector.