Ghana’s ambition to significantly expand its agro-processing industry within the next five years will depend largely on storage capacity and market readiness, an agribusiness expert has said.
Mr Senyo Kpelly, Chief Executive Officer of Tropical AgriFoods Ltd, a Tamale-based agro-processing company working with farmers to improve food security, said the country risked repeating past mistakes if it focused only on increasing agricultural production without investing in storage and market systems.
He explained that while Ghana had the potential to produce large quantities of crops such as maize, rice, soya and vegetables, the real challenge remained how to preserve and process the produce efficiently after harvest.
“Whenever production increases, we immediately begin to talk about post-harvest losses. The real question is whether we have the storage systems to handle large volumes of crops if production expands significantly,” he said.
Mr Kpelly noted that agro-processing could play a major role in reducing Ghana’s dependence on food imports and improving value addition in the agricultural sector, but the country needed a coordinated approach that linked farmers, processors and markets.
According to him, one of the biggest challenges facing agro-processors in Ghana is the inconsistent supply of raw materials, which makes it difficult for factories to operate at full capacity throughout the year.
He said many agro-processing companies operate far below capacity because farmers produce mainly during the rainy season, while factories require a steady supply of raw materials all year round.
Mr Kpelly stressed that improving storage infrastructure, including warehouses and modern storage facilities, would help stabilise supply and make it easier for agro-processing companies to scale up production.
He also questioned whether the country was fully prepared for the market side of large-scale agro-processing, especially in terms of export readiness and competitiveness.
“If we increase production and processing without being market-ready, we will end up with excess supply and falling prices. Market readiness must go together with production,” he said.
Mr Kpelly urged policymakers to focus on building a strong agro-processing ecosystem that included storage, logistics, financing and export support, rather than concentrating only on increasing crop production.
He said with the right policies and investment, Ghana could transform agro-processing into a major driver of industrial growth and job creation within the next five years.
