Despite out-performing industry and the service sector in terms of growth rate in the first quarter of 2022, Ghana’s agriculture sector continues to lag in terms of its overall contribution to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
According to data from the 2022 budget, the Agriculture sector has been growing at a steady pace for the past couple of years.
After growing by 0.9 per cent in 2014, the sector grew by 2.1 per cent and 2.7 per cent in 2015 and 2016 respectively.
The sector’s growth rate jumped to 6.2 per cent in 2017 before easing downwards to 4.7 per cent in 2019 and rising once again to 7.4 per cent in 2020. It is expected that the sector records a growth rate of 5.3 per cent this year and stabilise at about 5.5 per cent from 2023 to 2025.
Despite these strong growth numbers, its contribution to the country’s GDP has hovered around 20 per cent, lagging behind the Industry and Services sectors. For that to change, some stakeholders believe the sector needs to be further de-risked to attract the needed funding to grow the sector.
Mr Anthony Morrison is the Chief Executive Officer of the Chamber of Agribusiness Ghana commenting on the problem said the time had come for the government to consider going for a facility purposely for the agriculture sector.
“The kind of money needed to provide the kind of ignition needed to propel the agriculture sector is not what is at the disposal of institutions like GIRSAL. We need at least in the region of GH¢ 200 million quarterly for this industry to be transformed,” he said.
He said “I expect the Minister to look at the models that were used for the roads and highways sector where government will actually go and take a facility to develop the space. Can we also take a facility to develop some critical aspects of the Agriculture sector?”