Nana Adwoa Owusaa II, Queen-Mother of Namasua in the Berekum Municipality of the Bono Region, is making a passionate appeal to government authorities to breathe life into a dormant cassava processing factory—once hailed as a game-changer for rural industrialization.
The factory, established in 2022 under the One-District-One-Factory (1D1F) initiative by the previous administration through the Rural Enterprises Programme (REP), now sits idle and overtaken by weeds due to the lack of raw cassava supply. With the capacity to process 1.5 metric tons of cassava per hour—approximately 15 bags—the facility was designed to create direct jobs for over 20 locals and spur economic activity in the community.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), Nana Owusaa II lamented the waste of a potentially transformative project. “This factory can operate 24 hours a day and align perfectly with the government’s 24-hour economy vision. All we need is support for large-scale cassava farming,” she said.
The Queen-Mother emphasized the growing unemployment crisis among the youth in Namasua and called for urgent intervention to provide the resources and technical support needed to kick-start commercial cassava production.
Beyond economic concerns, she also raised alarm over the activities of Fulani herdsmen, whose cattle are destroying farmlands and threatening the community’s food security and peace. “Our forests are under attack too,” she said, referring to damage in a local reserve. “If the Forestry Commission cannot protect it, they should hand it over to us—we will defend it.”
Nana Owusaa II’s call comes as a wake-up reminder that beyond policies and projects, community-driven implementation and consistent support are critical for sustainable rural development.
