Dr Afriyie Akoto and Mr Tony Blair
MINISTER OF Food and Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, has appealed to investors to take advantage of the numerous opportunities that abound in Ghana’s agriculture sector.
According to him, the sector, over the past five years, has been positively impacted by the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) initiative introduced by Government.
Addressing potential investors at a breakfast meeting organised by the Tony Blair Institute of Ghana (TBIG) recently, the minister said the massive investment in the sector has yielded good results, making Ghana the food basket of the West African sub-region.
“Take soya bean, for example. Before 2017, we were producing less than 100,000 tonnes, but today, we are producing more than a quarter of a million tonnes. We have quadrupled our rice production, and we are a net exporter of maize to neighboring countries,” he said.
The minister said Ghana’s success story in the sector has won admiration from some governments in the sub-region, some of which include Burkina Faso, Togo, Malawi, as well as Trinidad and Tobago, who visited the country at different times to learn about the programme for emulation in their respective countries.
Opportunities
The minister pointed out that even though the production capacities of some food crops such as maize, rice, and soya bean have witnessed noteworthy increases since the rollout of the various interventions under the PFJ programme, Ghana still produced below capacity, for which reason, more investment was needed.
“Ghana’s agricultural sector now provides new areas of opportunities along the value chain for both foreign and domestic investors,” he added.
Furthermore, he said, that there were huge prospects in the poultry industry, as well as in marketing, packaging, branding, and advertising for investors to explore.
Commending the former UK Prime Minister, Tony Blair, for providing a platform to interact with potential investors and captains of industry from across the country, he said his ministry has had good working relationship with the Tony Blair Institute.
International Standing
On his part, Mr. Blair extolled Ghana’s high international reputation, which made her notable among her peers, adding “it was always an honor to visit this country and to interact with its people”.
Mr Blair encouraged the government to continue pursuing economic transformation through the employment of technology and value addition.