President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo
An authority to oversee the production, sales and marketing of six major tree crops in the country is set to be launched in Kumasi on Tuesday, September 29, 2020 in Kumasi by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
The Tree Crops Development Authority (TCDA) will be under the planting for export and rural development module of the planting for food and jobs (PFJ) flagship programme, and it is expected to lead the agenda of the diversification of Ghana’s agricultural export commodity from the over-reliance on cocoa to other tree crops with similar economic benefits.
President Akufo-Addo will explain how the TCDA plays into his government’s quest to transform Ghana’s economy through agriculture.
The tree crops, which come under the purview of the authority, are cashew, oil palm, shea, coconut, coffee and rubber, and the authority will be responsible for coordinating the activities of all the major stakeholders involved in the production of these major crops.
The Ministry of Food & Agriculture, in a communiqué, said the TCDA would be headquartered in the Ashanti Regional capital, Kumasi, and would have a semblance of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD).
According to the ministry, it will put in place policies and programmes to ensure production, pricing and marketing of the commodities.
“Currently, cocoa is the only major export commodity of the country, earning Ghana over US$2 billion annually,” the statement said, but indicated that with the potentials of the other tree crops, Ghana could soon quadruple its agricultural export earnings, “with the anticipation that these individual tree crops could fetch the country as much as cocoa annually.”
Background
The NPP government, in pursuant to the campaign tour in 2016, pledged that if given the opportunity, it would establish a regulatory institution to accelerate the development of the tree crop sub-sector just like COCOBOD.
Following the assumption into power, the government recognised the agriculture sector as a tool that could help accelerate rural development in order to achieve inclusive growth development.
Already, the Akufo-Addo administration has initiated interventions geared towards developing specific sectors of the agriculture sector, including the planting for food and jobs, rearing for food and jobs, one village one dam, rural mechanization project, green house project and the planting for export and rural development.
By Ernest Kofi Adu