Although IMANI Africa is welcoming Ghana’s new $5 billion fertilizer plant deal, it is warning that the real measure of its success will depend on whether smallholder farmers, not just large commercial farms, get access to the output.
The public policy think tank says Ghana’s $5 billion fertilizer factory deal with Aljadad is a step toward agricultural self-sufficiency.
It, however, fears that there is a tendency for the output from the factory to prioritize and feed commercial farms, neglecting smallholder farmers.
But the irony is that Ghana’s agriculture sector, currently, is built on the backs of millions of smallholder farmers who supply the bulk of the country’s food. Yet they remain the most vulnerable, constantly squeezed by high fertilizer costs, unpredictable global prices, and limited access to inputs.
To address this challenge, the policy think tank says the fertilizer output from the factory should deliberately target smallholders, who have been the backbone of the country’s agriculture sector, instead of neglecting them to focus on large farms.
While this will improve their yield, it can also encourage them to expand their farms, increasing their incomes and thereby improving their standard of living.
“The real opportunity lies in industrial linkages. Fertilizer should feed smallholder farmers, not just commercial agribusinesses,” portions of IMANI’s criticality analysis cited by The High Street Journal remarked.
Many analysts say local fertilizer production at Atuabo, anchored by a gas processing plant, could finally break this dependency, lower input costs, and lift productivity. But only if distribution is inclusive.
Prioritizing smallholders will have a ripple effect in the economy, such as boosting food security, reducing Ghana’s reliance on imports like rice and poultry, strengthening rural incomes, and anchoring a broader agro-industrial chain where harvests flow into local processors, not just onto cargo ships.
The think tank is cautioning that without deliberate policy choices, Ghana could slip into the trap of being a contract farm for foreign nations, producing raw goods for export while continuing to import finished food products.
