40 foreign investors eye agric sector

Over 40 foreign investors are expected to explore business opportunities in the agriculture sector, Dominic Oduro Antwi, President of the Ghana-India Trade Advisory Chamber, has said.

The sector has lacked investment and innovation to modernise it and contribute significantly to the Ghanaian economy.

However, the government’s Planting for Food and Jobs policy has revitalised the sector, particularly the crop sector, which grew by more than 6.0% in the third quarter of 2019.

The modernisation could also help feed the manufacturing sector with raw materials.

At the launch of the Agric-Tech West Africa 2020 Conference in Accra, Mr Antwi said: “We need to step up our game. For instance, we still use cutlass in weeding, we have to be able to have a technology where something can replace something – even like a cutlass. We should also let the farmers benefit from their produce.”

“Ghana needs to move from this state in the agriculture sector to a higher state. You talk about Kenya, you talk about Rwanda, sometimes you have to move from our comfort zone, a change is difficult but we can do it”, he reiterated.

According to the 2019 quarter 3 GDP figures, the year-on-year quarterly GDP growth rate for Agriculture was 5.9%.

The crops sub-sector recorded the highest year-on-year growth rate of 7.3% while the forestry and logging sub-sector recorded the lowest, with a contraction (-0.6%).