Ghana has set an ambitious target to place agriculture at the centre of its economic transformation agenda, with the launch of the AgriConnect Compact expected to attract US$3.5 billion in investments and create more than 2.6 million jobs over the next five years.
Launched by the Government of Ghana with support from the World Bank Group on the sidelines of the West Africa Rice Investment Roundtable in Accra, the initiative represents one of the country’s most comprehensive efforts to reposition agriculture as a driver of employment, resilience, and private-sector-led growth.
The Compact is designed to channel investment into multiple agricultural value chains, with a focus on increasing productivity, expanding commercial agriculture, and creating employment opportunities across the sector.
According to details presented at the launch, the programme will focus on priority sectors including rice, maize, cocoa, oil palm, and poultry. It also seeks to support reforms aimed at raising productivity while attracting greater private sector participation in agriculture.
The strategy extends beyond primary production. Investments are expected to target irrigation systems, mechanisation, climate-smart agriculture, and digital innovation, creating opportunities throughout agricultural supply chains rather than solely on farms.
This broader approach aligns with discussions at the regional rice investment roundtable, where stakeholders identified irrigation, seed systems, machinery, milling, storage, transport, and trade as critical areas requiring substantial investment.
Vice-President Prof. Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang said the challenge facing the country goes beyond increasing output and includes mobilising the “scale of capital required” to transform agriculture from a subsistence activity into commercial production supported by integrated value chains.
Describing rice as a “strategic economic asset,” she noted that agricultural transformation must be viewed in terms of its ability to create jobs for young people, generate incomes for farmers, and strengthen economic resilience against future shocks.
The emphasis on integrated value chains suggests that employment generation under the Compact is expected to come from multiple segments of the agricultural economy. Beyond crop cultivation, investments in processing, logistics, storage, mechanisation services, and technology-driven agricultural solutions could contribute significantly to job creation.
The African Development Bank also highlighted the employment potential embedded within the agricultural sector. Richard Ofori-Mante, Director of Agricultural Finance and Rural Development, argued that agriculture should be recognised as a “productive economic sector” capable of driving growth, creating jobs, and supporting industrialisation.
He specifically pointed to opportunities across irrigation services, mechanisation, processing, logistics, digital agriculture, and agribusiness entrepreneurship, areas that are expected to play a central role in implementing Ghana’s agricultural transformation agenda.
The focus on youth employment is particularly notable given the scale of the target. Ofori-Mante described Africa’s youth as being at the centre of the transformation process, stressing that harnessing opportunities along the rice value chain would be critical to turning demographic growth into an economic dividend.
For development partners, the Compact represents more than a national agricultural programme. Guangzhe Chen, World Bank Group Vice-President for Planet, said West Africa possesses both the “pipeline and leadership” needed to accelerate transformation in the rice sector, adding that Ghana’s AgriConnect Compact demonstrates how agricultural investment can deliver jobs, strengthen resilience, and support inclusive growth at scale.
The launch reinforces ongoing regional efforts to strengthen food security and reduce dependence on imports. Participants at the West Africa Rice Investment Roundtable reiterated the need for coordinated investments to help the region move towards rice self-sufficiency by 2035, while improving competitiveness across agricultural value chains.
ECOWAS Commission President Dr. Omar Alieu Touray said the region’s ambition is to build more “competitive, inclusive, and sustainable agrifood systems” capable of creating economic opportunities and advancing food sovereignty. He further called for stronger investor confidence, accelerated financing for bankable opportunities, and reinforced partnerships to support a more resilient regional rice economy.
The AgriConnect Compact provides a framework for translating those regional ambitions into measurable national outcomes for Ghana. The programme aims not only to improve food and nutrition security for nearly three million people but also to position agriculture as a major source of employment and investment.
Ghana is placing agriculture at the centre of its economic strategy, with the expectation that value-chain development, productivity improvements, and private investment will drive the next phase of growth.
