President John Dramani Mahama has outlined a comprehensive plan to transform Ghana's agricultural sector through strategic interventions aimed at modernising farming, boosting local production, and cutting down on food imports.

The announcement was made during his first State of the Nation Address in Accra, where he stressed that agriculture would be the backbone of Ghana’s economic revival.

The ambitious Agriculture for Economic Transformation Agenda (AETA) is expected to not only increase food production and stabilise food prices but also enhance agribusiness, ensure food security, create jobs, and reduce Ghana’s dependency on imported food items.

Agricultural paradox

Despite having fertile lands, abundant water resources, and human capital, Ghana spends over $2 billion annually on food imports, a situation the President described as alarming.

As rising food inflation has also placed a heavy burden on households, threatening livelihoods across the country.

“Our food import bill continues to soar, reaching alarming levels of over US$2 billion annually. In addition, rising food inflation is burdening households and threatening livelihoods,” President Mahama stated.

The Feed Ghana Programme would increase food production and reduce prices through projects like the Grains Development Project, focusing on rice, maize, and soybean production while the Vegetable Development Project will target crops such as tomatoes, onion, and pepper.

Revamping poultry sector

Touching on the establishment of poultry farms, Mr Mahama said poultry farm-to-table project would eliminate poultry imports and increase local production.

“Ghana imports 95 per cent of its poultry needs, which costs over US$ 300 million annually and to reverse this trend, government’s plan is to revamp the poultry sector by investing in hatcheries, feed mills, processing, and distribution, working toward eliminating poultry imports” he noted.

Explaining further he said the flagship component of this initiative, the Nkoko Nkitinkiti Project, would empower 55,000 households to produce eggs and fresh poultry for the local market, helping cut down the country’s huge poultry import bill.

Livestock Development Project

In a bid to reduce Ghana’s dependence on imported meat, the government would also embark on the Livestock Development Project, which would address Ghana's reliance on imported meat by restocking breeder farms and increasing local livestock production, creating jobs and boosting self-sufficiency.

On the fisheries front, President Mahama announced strategic interventions to improve productivity and sustainability and assured that “We will provide financial and technical support to fish farmers, increasing local fish production and reducing our dependence on fish imports.”

Mr Mahama concluded by noting that there would be investments in modern fish landing sites and cold storage facilities to improve post-harvest handling, reduce losses, and enhance the quality of fish products.

“Aquaculture development is a key focus of our administration. We will provide financial and technical support to fish farmers, increasing local fish production and reducing our dependence on fish imports” he said.

President Mahama believes this would position agriculture as a profitable and appealing venture, especially for the youth. To strengthen the connection between agriculture and industry, he explained that government would prioritise value addition, processing, and distribution.

Reliable power supply

A critical part of the agricultural transformation agenda is ensuring a reliable power supply to support agro-processing and industrial activities.

The President assured Ghanaians that ongoing investments in the energy sector would address power shortages and meet the needs of the agricultural sector.