Jomoro MP Dorcas Affo-Toffey has met the Paramount Chief of the Western Nzema Traditional Area and prospective investors over a planned coconut processing factory in the Western Region municipality.
The investors, who have not been named, are studying whether a plant in Jomoro could turn locally grown coconuts into higher-value products for domestic and export markets. Affo-Toffey said the factory could create jobs for young people, widen markets for coconut farmers and raise incomes across the municipality.
The project is still at the feasibility stage. No investment amount, processing capacity, supply arrangement or construction timeline has been made public.
For Nzema farmers, the question is whether a processor would pay better and more reliable prices than the current trade in raw nuts. Coconuts can be processed into oil, milk, desiccated coconut and other foods, while husks and shells can supply fibre and industrial products. A plant’s value to farmers would depend on how it buys its raw material and on whether local supply is large and steady enough to keep it running near capacity.
The meeting follows a push by traditional leaders to revive the crop. In August, Awulae Kwasi Amakyi III, the Paramount Chief, told the Jomoro Development Conference at Half-Assini that the area would revive its coconut industry rather than turn to illegal mining. He said Jomoro needed processing factories to add value to its coconuts, and described the once-thriving industry as a former mainstay of employment in Nzema.
The Western Region is the centre of Ghana’s coconut production. In 2022, the then regional minister said it supplied more than 80 per cent of the country’s coconuts for local use and export. The Jomoro and Shama districts received new coconut seed gardens under a regional replanting programme launched in 2020.
