Ghana’s recent economic gains from gold have demonstrated the value of giving a strategic sector focused policy attention, financing and institutional support needed to expand.
Agriculture now faces a similar challenge.
Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson said the government’s immediate economic priorities include developing commercial agriculture, increasing value addition and creating jobs, as the Ministry of Finance concludes its engagements with ministries, departments and agencies ahead of the 2027 Budget.
“This week, we expect to conclude our budget hearings with the various ministries, departments and agencies,” Ato Forson shared on his social media. “Through every hearing and every decision, one principle remains non-negotiable: the interest of the Ghanaian people comes first.”
He said last week discussions with International Finance Corporation (IFC) Managing Director Makhtar Diop had also focused on Ghana’s economic progress, particularly the reduction in inflation, while highlighting the government’s next priorities.
“I made it clear that our next steps include developing commercial agriculture, adding value to what we produce and creating more jobs,” he said.
President John Dramani Mahama has similarly placed agriculture and value addition within the government’s economic transformation agenda.
After meeting Mr Diop, President Mahama said the discussions focused on “deepening our strategic partnership to transform Ghana’s economy”, with commercial agriculture in cocoa, oil palm and poultry identified as key areas.
“Reaffirming our commitment to industrialisation, I reiterated our firm policy to process at least 50% of our cocoa, farm produce, and mineral resources to create sustainable jobs for our youth,” the President said.
Gold has become a major source of export revenue for Ghana, but agriculture has not recorded the same level of expansion.
Bank of Ghana data show gold export receipts more than doubled from US$10.32 billion in 2024 to US$20.98 billion in 2025, with higher export volumes and prices both contributing to the increase.
The momentum has continued into 2026. Gold exports reached US$12.50 billion in the first half of the year, accounting for almost 70 percent of Ghana’s total merchandise export earnings of US$18.28 billion during the period.
The establishment of the Ghana Gold Board has also given the state a more coordinated role in the domestic gold market, with GoldBod becoming the statutory buyer of domestic artisanal and small-scale gold.
The result has been visible in Ghana’s external accounts and foreign exchange position.
Agriculture has yet to produce a comparable transformation.
The problem is not that Ghana lacks agricultural production or potential. It is that the sector continues to struggle with the systems required to turn production into a reliable commercial industry.
Farmers face limited access to finance and mechanisation, inadequate infrastructure, weak market connections and significant post-harvest losses. The Ministry of Food and Agriculture estimates that between 20 percent and 50 percent of agricultural produce can be lost depending on the crop because of poor post-harvest management.
That creates a damaging contradiction.
Farmers can produce more during a good season, yet a lack of storage, processing capacity, transport, and reliable buyers can leave them selling at depressed farm-gate prices or watching produce spoil.
At the same time, Ghana continues to rely heavily on imported food. The Ministry of Food and Agriculture has said the country’s food import bill exceeds US$2 billion annually, with poultry alone accounting for about US$300 million.
This is where the 2027 Budget becomes significant.
The commercialisation of agriculture cannot simply mean putting more money into production. It has to mean building the infrastructure and market systems that allow farmers to produce for known buyers, preserve what they harvest, process more of it locally, and earn better returns.
That requires investment across the agricultural value chain.
Irrigation can reduce dependence on rainfall. Mechanisation can allow farmers to cultivate larger areas. Storage facilities can prevent seasonal gluts from becoming losses. Feeder roads can connect farming communities to major markets. Processing facilities can absorb surplus production and create additional value. Reliable offtake arrangements can give farmers greater certainty before they plant.
Finance is equally important.
Smallholder farmers remain central to domestic food production but often operate without the capital required to expand. Without access to affordable financing, technology and reliable markets, increasing production becomes difficult even when demand exists.
The policy challenge, therefore, is to move agriculture from a largely production-focused activity into a more integrated commercial sector in which farmers are connected to finance, technology, processors and markets.
Gold has shown the economic value of creating stronger systems around production and trade. Agriculture needs a similar level of institutional focus, although its requirements are different.
The objective should not be to replicate the gold model in agriculture. The lesson is that sectors with strong economic potential require deliberate policy coordination, financing, and market structures if that potential is to translate into national economic gains.
The government has already identified commercial agriculture and value addition as priorities. The 2027 Budget is where those priorities can be translated into measurable investment in the infrastructure and businesses that connect farmers to markets.
Ghana does not only need farmers to produce more food. It needs an agricultural economy capable of absorbing that production, processing it, distributing it efficiently, and generating sustainable incomes from it.
Gold has become a major source of foreign exchange because Ghana has built stronger mechanisms around a valuable natural resource.
Agriculture now needs the systems that will allow the value created on Ghanaian farms to have a much larger impact on the economy.
