Ghana’s agriculture sector is set for a massive transformation and remodeling through a climate-smart agriculture initiative being implemented by the government through the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA).
Till now, Ghana’s agriculture has focused mainly on land preparation and labor acquisition, and how they can be combined to ensure maximum yield. MoFA has now added an element to it, accurate weather information, to further boost yield.
In accounting for his stewardship to the people of Ghana, Mr. Eric Opoku, the Minister for Food and Agriculture, mentioned some of the challenges of the agriculture sector and the need for a new system to effect real change.
“Climate variability and unpredictability are among the greatest risks our [Ghanaian] farmers face, and responding to these requires systems that generate, analyze, and disseminate data in real time.”
Eric Opoku, Minister for Food and Agriculture
GMet Landscape
Mr Opoku confidently declared that “the Ministry has made significant strides in transforming Ghana’s agro-meteorological landscape.”
“We have installed 20 automated weather stations across the country under the Ghana Meteorological Agency, GMet.
“These stations, unlike manual ones, collect data automatically 24-7, ensuring higher accuracy and consistency for data transmission to GMet Central Database, elimination of manual dependency for readings, enhanced forecasting, and early modeling for disaster prevention and farm planning.”
Eric Opoku, Minister for Food and Agriculture
The Minister further explained that 11 out of the 20 installed automatic weather stations are located in Senior High Schools, “where climate clubs have been formed to promote environmental literacy and ownership.” The Ministry aims to educate the next generation on Climate-smart agriculture, while the students are trained to be responsible for their maintenance.
“The automated weather stations allow us [MoFA] to provide precise and hyper-local advisories,” the Minister stated. He also added that “rainfall patterns, temperature trends, wind conditions, and soil health directly influence planting, harvesting, and fertilizer application decisions.” This is why the government is going beyond the land and labor factors to include climate change to upgrade agriculture in Ghana.
The Ministry has created a Management Information System (MIS) to analyze and integrate both manual and automated weather station data, and enhance “real-time analysis, visualization, and dissemination of weather forecasts to support cropping decisions, food system planning, and early warning mechanisms.”
According to Mr Eric Opoku, the supplier for the MIS has been shortlisted and submitted to the World Bank for approval. The MIS will become the digital backbone of Ghana’s agro-meteorological intelligence after the approval process is completed.
Climate-Smart Agriculture – IDI
The Information Dissemination Infrastructure (IDI) is designed to enhance farmers’ access to actionable digital advisories and serve as a warning system for the farmers.
According to the Minister, currently, “1,059 farmers across 15 regions have been receiving climate-smart agriculture advice via SMS and voice calls, helping them to prepare for planting and weather disruptions.”
The climate model will be officially launched in the first week of December this year. It will then be extended to cover more farmers. MoFA has collaborated with the Ministry of Communication to send free SMS to farmers
“To ensure that the weather data reaches all farmers, regardless of location, the Ministry has secured a partnership with the Ministry of Communication to send SMS updates free of charge to farmers. Local FM stations and community information centers are being engaged to broadcast forecasts in local languages.”
Eric Opoku, Minister for Food and Agriculture
The Minister outlined other measures put in place to promote climate-smart agriculture. He mentioned that agricultural extension agents are being “equipped with motorbikes to deliver forecasts directly to remote communities. Through our [MoFA] growing network of almost 70,000 community commodity farmer cooperatives, this information will be disseminated in real time to support timely action.”
The Ministry of Food and Agriculture has adopted the digital device of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) called Event Mobile Application Plus (EMA+). Mr Opoku clarified that the device “represents a new milestone in the journey of Ghana towards enhancing environmental health surveillance, disease notification, and early warning systems has been developed and deployed to strengthen early detection and rapid response to livestock disease.” The device was launched in September this year.
“Under this system, once a farmer observes any abnormal symptoms, they can immediately log the case on the EMA+ platform, which transmits the report to the Central Diagnostic Laboratory in Accra. The laboratory is now fully equipped and ready to conduct rapid diagnosis and provide immediate feedback to guide treatment.”
Eric Opoku, Minister for Food and Agriculture
The EMA+ platform ensures timely intervention, reducing disease spread, and safeguarding animal health and environmental safety, and food quality, thereby protecting the investment of farmers.
These measures, if effectively deployed, will ease Ghana into a “new era of climate-smart agriculture, where technology, data, and local knowledge work hand-in-hand to safeguard the livelihoods of our farmers and the food security of our nation.”
The Minister professed that agriculture in Ghana is now anchored on data and technology and will be delivering the Agriculture for Economic Transformation Agenda (AETA) through the Feed Ghana Program (FGP).
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