The Minister for Food and Agriculture, Eric Opoku, has called for the creation of a strategic relationship between agriculture and industry, stressing the need for such collaborations to enhance job opportunities for the youth and the good people of Ghana.
According to him, the “symbiotic relationship between agriculture and industry must be mutually beneficial, so that, there can be jobs for the youth, whilst ensuring food sufficiency to the theming population.”
Hon. Opoku also stressed the need to channel resources to more important agricultural interventions whilst cancelling those that no longer serve their purpose.
“There is the need for us to redirect some of these expenditures from less impactful inefficient programmes. We need to shift the resources from recurrent expenditures that have no impact to capital investment in the form of infrastructure, research, and innovation to make the sector more productive so that we can impact significantly on food production in the country,” he said.
To be able to do this, the minister said; “we have to conduct expenditure survey in the sector to ascertain which particular programmes we can do away with”.
He further highlighted the need to end redundant programmes and consolidate overlapping initiatives to enhance the agricultural sector.
The sector minister made these comments during the National Economic Dialogue (NED), which was held from 3rd to 4th March 2025, at the Accra International Conference Centre under the theme: “Resetting Ghana: Building the Economy We Want Together”, with President John Dramani Mahama leading the dialogue with a Keynote Address.
The National Dialogue gathering offered a platform for Ghanaians to respond to the pressing economic challenges, whilst forging actionable solutions to foster sustainable economic growth.
Agriculture was highlighted as a key driver of economic transformation, with the dialogue recommending the establishment of new agricultural institutes, the introduction of a streamlined tax regime for agricultural inputs and outputs, and policies to align skills development with national priorities.
Reporting by Stephen Freeman, Accra.
