Ghana
Ghana: Agriculture
Key facts
Ghana is a West African country lying along the Gulf of Guinea. It is bound on the east by Republic of Togo, on the west by La Cote d’Ivoire and the north by Burkina Faso. Ghana is predominantly an agricultural country: over 60% of the population works in agro-industry, accounting for approximately 42% of GDP.
Agriculture is, in the main, practised on smallholder, family-operated farms using rudimentary technology; approximately 90% of farm holdings are less than 2 hectares in size. Larger scale farms and plantations produce mainly oil palm, rubber and coconut and, to a lesser extent, maize, rice and pineapples.
Ghana presently has over 8.3 million hectares (61.1%) of uncultivated arable land which is available and conducive to food production and processing. The climatic and soil conditions throughout the country present an excellent environment for crop production. In addition, an abundant water supply facilitates irrigation development; in 2002, the total area under formal irrigation was only 11,000 hectares – potential irrigable area, however, including inland valleys, is estimated to be 500,000 hectares.
Major food crops in Ghana generally consist of cereals and starchy foods. Cereals include maize, rice, millet, guinea corn and sorghum, while starchy crops include cassava, yam, cocoyam (taro) and plantain. Ghana’s primary cash crops include cocoa beans, palm oil, pineapples, cotton and tomatoes. Others include bananas, citrus fruits, coconuts, tobacco, spices and fresh vegetables. There is the capacity within Ghana to export products by either air or sea; with Tema offering one of the most efficient port services in Africa, and direct flights linking Accra to, amongst others, the major European transport hubs of Schipol and Heathrow.
Government Initiatives
- FASDEP II (2007).
- Many financial and non-financial incentives for foreign investments.
Opportunities
Opportunities currently exist in the following areas of Ghana’s food industry:
Production: Maize, rice, plantain, cassava, yam and other non-traditional foods including cocoyam.
Processing: Maize oil, maize flour, rice flour, fragrance rice, ground rice, dried cassava, cassava starch, cassava flour, cassava tapioca and finished food products such as macaroni, pasta, noodles and maize powder meals.
Technology and Services: Irrigation; heavy equipment hiring such as tractors, ploughs, harrows and combine harvesters; production of inputs such as fertilisers, pesticides, and fungicides; manufacturing and supply of machinery and spares; distribution and storage.
Opportunities also exist in Ghana’s cash crop industry:
Fresh and Processed fruits: Fresh and canned pineapples;papayas, mangoes and other exotic fruits; pineapple and exotic fruit juices.
Fresh and processed vegetables: Tomatoes and tomato paste; chillies and hot sauces; squash and cucurbits; frozen vegetables; Asian vegetables.
Special commodities: Conventional, organic and specialty coffees;c onventional and organic cocoa and derivative products; cotton lint.
Oils: Palm oil; cottonseed oil.
Furthermore, the expected growth in the floricultural sector will create and sustain demand for cold storage and freight handling facilities, greenhouse construction, irrigation equipment and construction of small dams.
Major opportunities also exist in the harvesting and processing of tuna and various aquaculture species, as well as the inland cultivation of tilapia and perch. In addition, local seafood enterprises are seeking ventures with foreign partners to upgrade current operations and increase output, including the introduction of modern vessels; advanced tracking, capture, processing and packaging equipment; accessories such as block/flake/crushed ice machines; and increasing cold storage capacity.