With Ghana’s cropping season already underway and the mid-year budget review set for presentation on July 24, concerns are mounting within the agricultural community over the government’s consistent underfunding of the sector.
Crop scientists have cautioned that without an urgent and meaningful increase in funding for agriculture, the nation risks wasting yet another planting season and weakening the very policies it has spent years drafting.
Speaking with The High Street Journal, Dr. Frank Ackah, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Crop Science, University of Cape Coast, said government initiatives in the sector, while well-intentioned and well-structured, have remained largely stagnant due to a lack of financial backing. He pointed to flagship policies such as farmer service centers, input delivery systems, and aggregation linkages that have been outlined on paper but struggle to find footing on the ground. In his view, the real obstacle is not poor design, but inadequate fiscal commitment.
“We are at a point in the season where the rains have already come, farmers have begun planting, and field activities are in motion,” he explained. “So any interventions that are funded after this point may have very limited impact on this year’s output. If we miss the window again, then it’s another cycle lost.”
The mid-year budget, often treated as a technical adjustment to fiscal projections, carries far greater weight for agriculture, where seasonality dictates the success or failure of policy outcomes. Dr. Ackah argued that if the government is intentional about improving productivity, reducing food inflation, and driving rural livelihoods, then it must demonstrate that seriousness in the numbers it puts behind the sector in this upcoming review.
He also highlighted the broader macroeconomic implications of neglecting agriculture. With food inflation being one of the major components of Ghana’s current inflation basket, stabilizing food prices through increased production and supply chain support would offer a more sustainable anchor than reactive monetary tightening.
In his view, agriculture holds the key not just to rural resilience but also to national price stability, and should therefore be treated as a cornerstone of economic strategy, not a social sector afterthought.
Dr. Ackah acknowledged the fiscal constraints facing the government, but insisted that these limitations should be met with innovative funding approaches, including stronger collaboration with development partners and external support agencies. He emphasized that donor agencies have consistently shown willingness to support agriculture when clear plans and accountable structures are in place.
Dr. Ackah emphasised that while policy reforms are important, they require timely and adequate financing to produce real outcomes. He noted that delays in disbursing funds, especially during peak planting periods, often render even the best policies ineffective on the ground. Without prompt fiscal support, Ghana risks missing yet another opportunity to strengthen food systems, improve farmer productivity, and reduce dependence on food imports.
