The thought that we, as Africans, are able to managing our personal affairs instantly brings hope to our inside souls. Although for many years after the overthrow and subsequent dying of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana has not made such important strides in numerous areas of agriculture, which is meant to be the first supply of power for the nationwide financial system.
The African Institute for Strategic Research (AISS) is a public policy-oriented suppose tank primarily based in Accra and specialises in agricultural insurance policies and techniques.
The aim of this text will not be solely to stipulate some nice initiatives the present Agric Minister has launched in all sectors of agriculture, but additionally to spotlight the systematic grasp plans being adopted to uplift and rework agriculture in Ghana can convey Ghana into the forefront of agricultural growth throughout the sub-region inside 4 years.
Monitoring the federal government’s angle in direction of agriculture, the AISS attended the brand new authorities’s launch of the FEED GHANA PROGRAMME at Techiman on the twelfth of April 2025 within the Bono East Area. In the course of the launch, HIS EXCELLENCY PRESIDENT JOHN DRAMANI MAHAMA, as a part of his authorities’s Key Interventions in Agriculture, listed just a few key transformational methods which might assist flip across the agricultural fortunes of the nation. These Key Interventions embody:
1) Promotion of SMART Agriculture
In his introductory speech, His Excellency the President acknowledged, “We are going to set up Farmers’ Service Centres nationwide to offer mechanisation companies, high quality inputs, finance, markets, major processing, coaching, and technical help. To help younger entrepreneurs, as well as, we are going to develop Farm Banks or land banks in designated agricultural zones with irrigation potential to help manufacturing, notably younger agripreneurs.
Up to now, such stunning statements and pronouncements can be made, and they might be thought-about simply one other speech. Nevertheless, on this event, the AISS can verify that the Ministry of Meals and Agriculture, run by the Honourable Minister Eric Opoku, has already delineated and circled strategic areas throughout the nation. With applicable suitability strategies when it comes to the place and how one can place these above-mentioned strategic authorities key insurance policies, such because the Farmers’ Service Centres (FSC), the Ministry has categorised and positioned both the mechanisation help points or processing within the applicable Districts throughout the nation.
For instance, the primary Farmers’ Service Centre for Meat and Poultry is anticipated to be located at Bechem within the Ahafo Area, whereas that of Grains, Cereals and Nuts is destined.
To be positioned within the Higher East Area and the Ashanti Area, respectively.
Based on the Minister, his imaginative and prescient is to ascertain a Farmer Service Centre in each farming district throughout the nation, with every district having both an Enter Centre or Processing Centre and even each, relying on the wants of that district or municipality. Honourable Eric Opoku, who’s the minister for Meals and Agriculture, in a brief interview with AISS, expressed a profound need to uplift the general meals and agriculture worth chain along with his final aim of reaching reasonably priced and sustainable meals safety for all.
Fruits & Greens
Other than his plan to ascertain his first Farmer’s Service Centre for Meat and Poultry at Bechem within the Ahafo Area, the Minister additionally shared his intention to ascertain a brand new Farmer Service Centre for Fruits and Greens Processing. He defined that this processing centre will work intently with each small and large-scale farmers to safe all their produce and purchase from them on the farm gate.
The Fruits and Vegetable Processing Centre, which will likely be fitted with the capability and equipment to transform fruits into concentrates in addition to cannery equipment to can contemporary tomatoes and different contemporary greens to guard value stabilisation throughout drought and out-of-season intervals. Like all different Farmer’s Service Centres, this centre will function as a enterprise incubator centre with places of work the place new agripreneurs and startups will likely be educated and supplied with all needed help required to assist them develop.
Roots & Tubers
Farmer’s Service Centre for Roots and Tubers Processing is the subsequent on the checklist for the Honourable Minister as he embarks on his transformational agenda for the Agric sector. This Farmer’s Service Centre (FSC) may even be fitted with trendy meals analysis gear not just for analysis into creating the standard of roots and tubers, however with the first function of making bread flour and different helpful processed merchandise from yams and or cassavas.
This processing centre, no matter which a part of the nation it’s positioned will concentrate on processing and turning into completely different consumable sources of carbohydrates. For instance, the ability could have the capability to clean, reduce, dry, chop and slice all tubers for supermarkets and different retail retailers.
Cassava chips will likely be produced from cassava and provided to producers of ethanol. Yams will likely be sliced or chopped into completely different sizes earlier than freezing them to protect their freshness for long-distance transporting to different areas. The roots and tuber centre, wherever it could be positioned, could have giant storage services to retailer a whole lot of 1000’s of half-processed roots and tubers for years with none injury in anyway. Although the ability is ostensibly arrange with roots and tubers being its major focus, processing of plantain may even be a part of the centre’s actions with the identical goal of enhancing meals safety to make sure zero meals inflation.
Grains, Cereals and Nuts
With fourteen (14) ten thousand (10,000) metric tons of silos and fitted with trendy high-tech processing equipment, the Farmer’s Service Centre for Grains, Cereals and Nuts, upon completion, ought to convey unprecedented stability within the provide and availability of grains throughout all elements of the nation.
As defined to AISS at MoFA throughout an interview, this explicit processing centre may even perform as one of many Enter and Assist Centres, which primarily focuses on offering farmers’ enter and help companies, corresponding to the availability of fertilisers, tractors, seeds and ploughing companies. This processing centre, put in with all of the related laboratory gear, will likely be tasked to analysis into straightforward and completely different strategies of processing and including worth to grains, cereals and nuts for native consumption and export.
2) Institutional Farming
In the course of the launch of the Feed Ghana Programme, President Mahama additionally talked about his plans to encourage households, corporations and colleges to interact in each crop and livestock farming wherever they’re to assist enhance meals sufficiency in households. Establishments have been partly suggested to enter business farming to boost income to help their actions. It was additionally talked about that the Ministry has plans to help colleges with land with some agricultural inputs for crops, in addition to day-old chicks (nkuko nkitnkiti) to encourage colleges and college students to develop an curiosity in poultry and different livestock farming.
Horticulture
Horticulture is the artwork and science of rising and cultivating flowers and decorative crops. In Kenya, horticulture contributes considerably in direction of the Kenyan GDP by producing substantial overseas alternate from exports of flowers and different decorative byproducts and crops to all elements of the world. The trade supplies 1000’s of jobs and livelihoods whereas creating huge diversification in some ways, together with the provision of uncooked supplies for the manufacturing sector. The interview with the Honourable Minister of Meals and Agriculture additionally revealed his plans for creating the horticulture trade in Ghana with utter pace and innovation that can ravish into admiration by all Ghanaians. Based on the Minister, his major goal will not be solely to make horticultural merchandise accessible within the Ghanaian market but additionally to create an export marketplace for them as a contributor in direction of the GDP.
Dairy Processing (Plant Amrahia)
Lastly, when the Honourable Eric Opoku, the Minister of Meals and Agriculture, was requested if he had any plans for the dairy trade in Ghana, the Minister responded with such pleasure and enthusiasm as if he was anticipating that query from the AISS interviewer. The Minister talked about his plan to ascertain an ultra-modern, multipurpose and built-in dairy processing centre which might make a number of finish merchandise, together with cheese, butter, contemporary milk, evaporated milk, powdered milk, and so on.
The ability will likely be located at Amrahia, the place Dr Kwame Nkrumah’s first milk farm was established. The Minister emphasised the necessity for the dairy trade to be instantly given a lift to scale back our over-reliance on imported dairy merchandise for consumption. Like in all places else on the earth, he acknowledged, the organising of an built-in dairy processing plant comes with huge job alternatives, and that is what is anticipated in Amrahia subsequent 12 months when it’s anticipated.
Within the view of AISS, bearing in mind that many sensible concepts in agriculture have been written about and mentioned prior to now, with none ever being successfully applied, AISS will likely be retaining an in depth eye on the progress of the Ministry twelve months from now and report on precisely what has been achieved thus far and what’s left to be carried out.
