A cross-section of Ghanaians in the agricultural sector is eagerly awaiting significant attention to the industry in the upcoming budget presentation that will enhance productivity, income and food security.
Dr. Casiel Ato Forson, the Finance Minister, is scheduled to present the 2025 budget to Parliament on Tuesday, March 11, 2025. The budget is expected to address pressing issues such as Ghana’s high inflation rates, unstable exchange rates, and challenges facing the agricultural sector, among other economic concerns.
The presentation aligns with Article 179 of the 1992 Constitution and Section 21(3) of the Public Financial Management Act, 2016 (Act 921). This platform allows the minister to outline the government’s fiscal policy for the year, as detailed in the Budget Statement and Economic Policy.
Farmers across the country have expressed their hopes for the budget. Speaking to The Ghanaian Farmer, they emphasized the need for the minister to highlight key areas of the agricultural sector and propose solutions to address these challenges, offering relief to farmers and agribusinesses.
During a phone-in session on The Ghanaian Farmer Show with Enyonam Manye Adjetey on Sunday on Radio Gold, March 9, 2025, a vegetable farmer named Adams appealled to the finance minister saying “I am a vegetable farmer around the Accra plains, and we have never had tractors to plough our farms, even if it is meant for hiring these services. I hope to see the equipment banks mentioned in the State of the Nation address by President Mahama included in the budget on Tuesday.”
Adams, who cultivates five acres of land, relies solely on rainfall for his business. He expressed hope that the Equipment Centers soon to be established in every district, including his own, will provide simple irrigation machines ploughing and harrowing equipment to enhance his farming operation, and that of other farmers.
Also sharing his expectations ahead of the budget reading, John, calling from Prampram hopes that, the budget will give support to cereal farmers; especially, those in the cultivation of rice, millet, sorghum, beans, soya among others.
“I also depend on rainfall for irrigation. I pray that the minister will mention in his budget interventions that will see the agric ministry injecting capital into irrigation. The lower Volta basin which discharges into the sea can be used as an alternative to help farmers along the Kpong and Volta area to use it for their crops all year round.”
Another caller who is neither a farmer nor an agric enthusiast also added his voice to the discussion and asked for deplorable roads leading to farms to be fixed, and the provision of electricity and other social infrastructure to enhance safety of farmers, which he says will maximise production and reduce food inflation.
In addition, a cocoa farmer in Wasa, who has been in the sector for over three decades with 13 acres of cocoa farm also advocated for the prioritisation of farmers in the cocoa sector. He stressed that, providing them with transportation services like cars, motorbikes amongst others will help them save more money that would have otherwise, been used to pay for these services from other parties. He added that, that money can be used to increase cocoa production.
As Ghana gears up towards economic recovery and growth, key sectors of the country’s economy will be highlighted in the budget reading. Already, the president has said that agriculture is the backbone of the nation’s economic development. Ghanaian farmers, agribusinesses and agricultural entrepreneurs are looking forward to policies and programmes that will favour them, as they contribute their quota to national development.
Reporting by Stephen Freeman, Accra.
