Ghana Agriculture Investment: Minister Woos US Investors

The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Eric Opoku, is wooing foreign investors to take advantage of the substantial opportunities within Ghana’s agriculture sector. Speaking at the US-Ghana Investor Forum, held last Thursday, January 15, 2026, in Pennsylvania, USA, he reiterated the government's commitment to creating a favourable environment for investment. The forum, which attracted a cross-section of Ghanaians in the diaspora and interested foreign agribusiness investors, focused on fostering agricultural growth and development in Ghana. Incentives Mr Opoku said the government was committed to creating the needed incentives to attract the youth and large-scale farmers to venture into the agricultural sector. Those incentives, he said, were designed to mitigate risks and enhance the attractiveness of agricultural ventures in Ghana. The minister elaborated on Ghana's strategic position within West Africa, referencing its stable political and economic climate as a fertile ground for economic growth and providing immense potential for value chain engagement for investors. Mr Opoku, therefore, called on all investors to direct their financial resources and expertise towards the Ghanaian economy, recognising the immense potential for mutual benefit and sustainable development. Agric potentials Mr Opoku highlighted the substantial opportunities within Ghana's agriculture sector, assuring the potential investors of government’s clear intention to supporting them to ensure that Ghana attained food sufficiency. He took the forum through the potentials of the agriculture sector, which constituted 20 per cent share of the GDP, employing 38.3 per cent of the national population. The minister gave them the assurance that Ghana had large tracts of arable land, various ecological zones with excellent soil, suitable for the production of multiple crops and livestock. Mr Opoku told the participants that Ghana had a total land area of 23.9 million hectares with 13.6 million suitable for agriculture out of which 6.6 million remained uncultivated, while 1.9 million hectares had the potential for irrigation. Other areas of interest He said other areas of interest included shea butter, which Ghana could boast having the finest, “and best quality globally.” On cashew, the minister said the country had huge potentials of commercial production, adding that currently there was the need for value addition of the cashew apple, from which wine and others could be produced. Speaking on foodstuffs, the minister said rice currently stood at 1.5 million/600,000 tonnes production with a deficit estimated at 900,000 tonnes. Natural resources The minister took the opportunity to school the foreign gathering on other opportunities in the country, assuring them that Ghana was the largest gold-producing country in Africa, second largest cocoa producer in the world and had the third largest bauxite reserve in Africa. Additionally, he told them that Ghana had oil and gas reserves, and remained the largest producer of tuna in Africa and fourth globally and was the second largest producer of yam in the world. The minister declared that Ghana, under the visionary leadership of President John Dramani Mahama, was actively seeking strategic partnerships, particularly in the agricultural domain, rather than solely relying on aid. Since coming into office, the government had launched the Feed Ghana Programme (FGP) under the Agriculture for Economic Transformation Agenda to boost food self-sufficiency, reduce imports, create jobs and modernise farming.