Ghana signs agreement with Mihindra Ltd to supply 1000 tractors to farmers

Vice President John Dramani Mahama on Monday signed an agreement with Mihindra Company Limited to supply one thousand tractors to farmers during this year’s farming season.

The Company which has the capacity of manufacturing 250 tractors a day, also has a turnover capital of $7 billion dollars and is expected to supply the tractors before May this year.

In addition, the company would set up a servicing and training plant to complement the existing one in Kumasi to serve farmers in the Northern and Southern sectors of the country.

Vice President Mahama said all these were to partly support the Government’s Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) agenda to bridge the development gap between the North and the southern sector.

He said the NDC’s promise to ensure food sufficiency in the country was not lip-service, but a step that would empower farmers with the requisite equipment to increase food production for both domestic consumption and export.

“I am particularly happy that you are setting up plants in Kumasi and Tamale as it will not only serve the people of Ghana, but will also help our brothers from neighbouring Togo, Burkina Faso, Mali and Cote d’ Ivoire in the Sahel region.”

He urged the Company to consider including tractor accessories such as ploughs, tillers, harrows, trolleys and other machinery that would facilitate production of crops in the country.

The Vice President promised that the government would guarantee for the farmers for them to pay for the tractors by installment for a number of years as a morale booster for them to push up food production in the country.

Vice President Mahama further called on them to consider taking up the irrigation project of the Accra plains which the World Bank had expressed the interest in sponsoring for rice production.

Mr. Mahesh Kaskar, Deputy General Manager of International Operations, who signed for the Company promised to supply the tractors to the Ghanaian farmers before the commencement of the farming season this year.

He said the company had the capacity of producing 250 tractors a day and it was therefore not going to be any hindrance to their operations and deadlines.

Mr. Kaskar said over the past 25 years, the Company supplied between 600,000 and 700,000 tractors to many countries in the world, adding “there is a high demand for our tractors and other equipment because of the quality and we hope to replicate that in Ghana and Africa in general.”

Source: GNA

Use of compact fluorescent lamps significantly reduces Ghana’s electricity demand – Report.

The mass adoption of compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) as the standard lighting device in Ghana has translated into an annual cash earning of 33 million dollars and carbon savings of 105,000 tons per annum, a report has disclosed.

Electricity demand in the country was reduced by 124 megawatts in 2008 as a result of the use of the lamps, thus helping Ghana to avoid the use of one of the thermal electricity generating turbines acquired to ease the pressure at Akosombo, the report further revealed.

The report was to assess the socio-economic impact of using energy-efficient electrical gadgets in the country.

Prof. Abeeku Brew Hammond, Board Chairman for the Energy Commission (EC) made this known on Tuesday at a forum organized by the commission to interact with the media in Accra.

The purpose of the forum was to inform the public on progress so far made by the Commission and to announce the targets for 2010 and beyond.

Prof. Hammond said major accomplishments of the Commission included the enactment of three regulations covering fluorescent and incandescent filament lamps, household refrigerating appliances and air conditions, endorsement of 11 pieces of legislation on technical and operational rules and standards of performance of public utilities engaged in the supply and distribution of electricity and natural gas.

Others, he said, included urging the government to make it mandatory for oil marketing companies to have dedicated tankers labeled premix gasoline and the implementation of colour dye in premix gasoline by the Tema Oil Refinery.

Prof. Hammond said the Commission had set as its target for the year, a completion of woodfuels and biofuels policy and legislative framework, passage of renewable energy law, completion of grid-connected solar and wind pilot projects, and the establishment of a Ghana Renewable Energy Fund (Greenfund).

He said the commission had approved a project to enforce minimum energy performance standards for fridges and freezers, adding “only refrigerating appliances that meet minimum energy performance standards, belonging to the sub-tropical or tropical climate specifications and have been labeled appropriately can be placed on the Ghanaian market.”

The Commission, which was established in 1997, is an institution that makes national energy policy recommendations to the Minister of Energy and advises him on national policies for the efficient, economic and safe supply of electricity, petroleum products and natural gas having due regard to the national economy.

As a regulator, it licenses public utilities for the transmission, wholesale supply, distribution and sale of electricity and natural gas to consumers by public utilities.

The Commission acts as a planning institution that prepares, reviews and updates periodically, indicative national plans to ensure that all reasonable demands for energy are met.

Source: GNA
Zain Ghana introduces Zap mobile money service

Zain Ghana, a mobile telecommunication provider in Middle East and Africa, has introduced Zap service to enable subscribers and corporate institutions to send and receive money nation-wide.

Zap is a mobile banking and payment platform that enables Zain subscribers in “Zap-enabled countries” to use their mobile phone to withdraw cash or pay for goods and services, school fees electricity and water bills and bills of other utilities.

The award winning service has helped to improve business transactions in some African countries, including Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, Niger and Sierra Leone.

Launching the service in Accra on Tuesday, Mr. Philip Sowah, Country Manager of Zain Ghana said, a survey indicated that 80 per cent of Ghana’s work force was not saving at the bank and was keeping at unsafe places at home.

He said such individuals also undertook cash-based transactions that posed security threat adding “It is as a result of this that this service is being introduced to provide a convenient mode of formal banking transactions.”

Mr. Sowah said that subscribers who registered with the service, would have an account on their mobile phone as well as a stored account on the Zain system with the state-of-the-art security application.

He said the service would assist business organisations send money to their clients in remote areas in the country.

“We at Zain aim at creating a cashless society where Zap service would be used to make direct purchases instead of actual exchange of money and improve the living standards of our subscribers.

“The positive economic and social effects on the community we serve would be abundant with the introduction of this service”, Mr. Sowah said.

He explained that the service would be managed through Zain accredited agents and banks including United Bank of Africa, Standard Chartered Bank and Ecobank.

Mr. Sowah said the company would soon improve on the service to enable individuals in other countries to send and receive money from their relatives in Ghana.

“We have started with the regulations and other policy development and after clearance the service would commence,” he said.

Source: GNA