Reported as the world’s fastest-growing economy in 2019 by the IMF, Ghana’s agribusiness landscape play a key role in the country’s growth. The region offers considerable development potential, most notably at a domestic level. However, every country brings its own set of unique challenges when it comes to investment and development and Ghana is no different.
Ghana’s Economy
Ghana’s economy is abundant in natural resources. It is primarily market-based, with very few policy barriers to trade compared to other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Ghana’s agribusiness sector accounts for a small proportion of GDP (around 19%), but it employs more than a third of the workforce of the country (33.5%) and is dominated by smallholder farmers.
Despite the blossoming economy, Ghana’s GDP per capita is still below many emerging and developing economies such as Brazil, Indonesia, and South Africa.
The unemployment rate is above average compared to other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. The key economic concern facing Ghana’s government is the gross external debts.
Agriculture in Ghana
Ghana’s agribusiness and food sector are one of the most important sectors of the economy, employing more than half of the population on a direct or indirect basis, and accounting for almost half of GDP and export earnings. According to the Ghana Statistical Service, agriculture grew 5.5% in 2018, outpacing general non-oil GDP growth for the same year.
The domestic agricultural sector is mostly subsistence-based, composed of 74% crop production, 18% livestock, fishery and poultry, and 8% forestry. Smallholder farmers dominate Ghana’s agribusiness landscape; approximately 90% of smallholder farmers in Ghana cultivate less than 1-hectare of land.
There are some large farms and plantations in the country, chiefly for rubber, oil palm and coconut and to a lesser extent for rice, maize and pineapples. Most food crops cultivated are intercropped, and large-scale or commercial farms in the country are a monoculture.
In this report
We outline the challenges and opportunities for Ghana’s agribusiness sector in detail.
Leading Farrelly & Mitchell's Ghana office, Regional Director Stephen Awuah is a seasoned food and agribusiness professional. With an extensive portfolio of agribusiness consultancy in the SSA region, Stephen offers unrivalled regional expertise.
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