The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta, has disclosed that Ghana must have a different approach to its agriculture as it cannot continue importing essential foods.

Ghana’s import of essential food commodities has reached an average of US$2 billion yearly, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) has disclosed.

According to the MoF, essential foodstuffs, including rice, poultry, sugar, and tomatoes, comprise a chunk of the imports. Data from the ministry indicates that between 2017 and 2020 alone, the country reportedly spent between US$845.9 million and US$2 billion on importing rice, poultry, and tomatoes, among others.

About US$721 million was spent on chicken and fish imports, US$35.7 million on meat, and US$34.9 million on vegetables in 2020. Other commodities contributing to the rising imports include cooking and essential oils, beverages (alcoholic and non-alcoholic), and fruits.

Ghana’s food and agricultural imports will continue to grow

Meanwhile, the U.S envisages that Ghana’s food and agricultural imports will continue to grow as the current underdeveloped food processing sector cannot meet increasing demand. Food imports from the U.S mainly comprise bulk, intermediate, and consumer-oriented commodities such as rice, wheat, soybean meal, and poultry.

Exports of agricultural and related products to Ghana in 2021 from the U.S were US$156.6 million, an increase of about 48 percent over the previous year’s value (US$105.6 million). U.S. exports of rice, poultry, and wheat reached an all-time high of US$127.2 million in 2021, out of the total exports to Ghana.

Ghana cannot continue to be a nation of importers

Equally, importing consumer-oriented food from the European Union into Ghana remains strong.

“With these figures, it is obvious that we cannot continue to be a nation of importers. We must have a different approach to our agriculture as a nation.”
Ken Ofori Atta

Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta said in an interview that there is a need for clarity of vision and unity of purpose to put measures to allow Ghana’s agriculture sector to thrive.

MoF indicates that though the agriculture sector has been experiencing slight growth in recent years, the increasing trend in the country’s food import bill is worrying.

Agricultural transformation is a national responsibility

According to the Ministry, the sector has seen some modest gains, growing by 7.3 percent in 2020 and 8.4 percent in 2021 compared to the national GDP growth of 0.4 percent in 2020 and 5.4 percent last year.

Respectively, the sector grew by 5.6 percent for the first quarter of 2022 compared to 1.5 percent and 3.1 percent for the industry and the service sectors. It maintains that a lot is required from farmers, businesses, banks, and various government agencies to realize the desired agricultural transformation in the country through investment in the sector to cut down the imports.