Development Economist and Chartered Accountant, Mr. Nicholas Issaka Gbana, has warned that the parallel rollout of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture’s Feed Ghana programme and the Grow24 initiative under the 24-Hour Economy Policy could undermine Ghana’s agricultural transformation goals due to duplication and poor coordination.
Speaking at the third Annual General Meeting of the Oil Palm Development Association of Ghana (OPDAG), Mr. Gbana said both programmes mirror each other in their core objectives, strategies, and expected outcomes, particularly within the tree crop sector, and risk diluting their impact if not harmonized.
“Feed Ghana and Grow24 are essentially parallel programmes with identical goals and overlapping implementation plans, especially when it comes to our industry and tree crops more broadly,” Mr. Gbana remarked.
He noted that both initiatives prioritize agriculture as a catalyst for economic growth, with Feed Ghana focused on ensuring food security, reducing imports, and creating jobs, while Grow24 emphasizes scaling agribusiness, increasing exports, and leveraging technology.
Despite differences in presentation, Mr. Gbana argued that both plans call for similar interventions, expanding irrigation, building farmer service centres, improving access to finance, and promoting climate-resilient agriculture.
He warned that without proper coordination, the coexistence of both programmes could lead to fragmented resource allocation, competition for donor funding, and disjointed monitoring systems. “We risk wasting time, money, and goodwill if these programmes compete rather than complement each other,” he cautioned.
Mr. Gbana called on the Tree Crops Development Authority (TCDA) to take the lead in consolidating the two initiatives into a unified agricultural strategy to streamline implementation and avoid policy fatigue.
He also used the platform to call for a review of the TCDA’s Five-Year Strategy and Implementation Plan (2022–2027), warning against the tendency of successive governments to abandon existing frameworks and start afresh.
He urged continuity, particularly for long-term strategies already yielding results, such as the $100 million World Bank-funded Tree Crop Diversification Project, which supports coconut, cashew, and rubber value chains.
To ensure coherence across agricultural policy, Mr. Gbana recommended aligning the TCDA’s strategy with Feed Ghana, Grow24, and the upcoming Agribusiness Policy being developed by the Ministry of Trade and Industry. “There are too many ingredients in the soup,” he said, cautioning that an overcrowded policy space could dilute attention and hinder measurable outcomes.
As a solution, Mr. Gbana proposed scaling up successful agroforestry models piloted in the Central and Ahafo Regions, which integrate oil palm with fruit trees, timber species, and livestock. He urged TCDA and COCOBOD to form a joint technical committee to explore the national viability of mixed cropping systems that are climate-resilient and biodiversity-friendly.
Mr. Gbana stressed the need to move from rhetoric to coordinated advocacy that ensures long-term profitability and sustainability for Ghana’s oil palm and broader tree crop industries.
