ABL’s ‘Chibuku’ plant to create 20,000 jobs – Mahama

The installation of Accra Brewery Limited’s (ABL) ‘Chibuku’ plant would create about 20,000 jobs for Ghanaians and help the economy of Ghana, the acting president of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama has said.

The acting president said this when he commissioned ABL’s $2.5m 100,000 hectolitre commercial ‘Chibuku’ plant in Accra.

The ‘Chibuku’ plant would use a minimum of 300 metric tonnes of maize and 200 metric tonnes of sorghum annually for its production and therefore would stimulate maize and sorghum production in the country.

According to him, a minimum of 550 to 700 farming families’ livelihood would be impacted as they would be supplying the maize and sorghum needed for the production of ‘Chibuku’.

Deputy Minister in Charge of Crops at the Ministry of Agriculture Mr Yaw Effah Baafi said, ABL is an important player in the maize and sorghum business because it provides market for maize and sorghum farmers. He commended ABL for promoting agriculture in the country.

On his part, SABMiller Africa Managing Director- Mark Bowman said a good investment is the type that provides a win-win situation. He further revealed that, SABMiller would invest $33m in ABL in Ghana in its 2012/2013 financial year.

‘Chibuku’ is a traditional African beer with strong presence in Southern African countries and its sales is four times more than the sales of beer in the Southern African area,  the Managing Director of ABL, Greg Metcalf said.

According to him, the production of ‘Chibuku’ in Ghana is the first outside Southern African countries and Ghana happens to be the fifth country in the world to join the league of ‘Chibuku’ brewers.

“’Chibuku’ is an opaque beer like some of our traditional beer such as ‘Pito’ and ‘Brukutu’ and has been one of the biggest selling brands in Southern African countries for a very long while now, we are the first to introduce it to Ghanaians” Ben Afakey, Operations Director in Charge of the ‘Chibuku’ project at ABL told ghanabusinessnews.com.

By Pascal Kelvin Kudiabor