Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By William Yaw Owusu
Thursday, June 30, 2016
Convention People’s Party (CPP) flagbearer, Ivor Kobina Greenstreet,
says he intends to make almond cultivation that produces what is known in local
parlance as ‘Abrofo Nkate’ the mainstay of the economy, if he wins the November
presidential election.
He said the commercial cultivation and production of almond, which
is mainly grown in tropical Africa, will immensely benefit the country
economically through the production of consumable oil; and estimated it roughly
around $300 billion.
“The price on the international market for almond oil is as much as
US$10,000 a tone; and I am understating the price. Cocoa has never gone above
US$3,600 a tonne. Oil palm is currently US$800 a tonne,” he said Tuesday night
when he took his turn at the Institute of Economic Affair (IEA) ‘Encounter,’
which gives presidential candidates the platform to sell their visions to the
public.
Mr. Greenstreet, a lawyer, who is going to try his luck of becoming president
in the November general election for the first time, said a CPP government
intends to “mobilize two million youth to plant 32 trees per person in an
eight-hour work a day at 175 trees per hectare, meaning that a total area
equivalent to 7,314,285.7 hectares, will be planted, giving us almost 26
million tonnes for the whole area.”
The CPP standard bearer articulated, “A rough estimate based on the
above could potentially produce 30 million tonnes of oil, multiplied by 10 per
litre and Ghana could potentially generate US$300 billion.”
Financing
Arrangement
He said the “financing of this programme, will be made available
from different local and international sources; and it will be an incentive-based
scheme based on out-grower system,” adding, “we won’t beg for money like the
NDC.
“Why become shameful and disgraceful like the NDC, chasing the Chinese
around in circles for US$3 billion when God has given us fertile lands that
with a little effort, we could aim to generate US$300 billion. Cut that target in
half, even more than half and earning a US$100 billion alone will clear the
country’s debts.”
According to Mr. Greenstreet, a CPP government would engage two
million youth in the agric sector to reduce the ever soaring unemployment rate
and ensure that the government engages the private sector in the ambitious
programme.
Energy Sector
He said that a CPP government would invest heavily in wind turbines
in addition to the current combination of hydro and thermal saying, “standard
wind turbines with an average height of 120 meters and a diameter of 85 meters
will generate 3 megawatts of energy per unit.”
He asked rhetorically, “Are we not a creative country? Do we not
have a creative leadership? Why do we always have to think that the only ways
of providing employment are white-collar jobs? Kwame Nkrumah was creative. In
his time, even prisoners were put to work. Not like today where they’re packed
in inhuman conditions like sardines.”
Mr. Greenstreet tackled other national issues - from health,
infrastructure and to governance.
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