Agriculture in Ghana consists of a variety of agricultural products and is an established economic sector, providing employment on a formal and informal basis. It is represented by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture. Ghana produces a variety of crops in various climatic zones which range from dry savanna to wet forest which run in east–west bands across Ghana. Agricultural crops, including yams, grains, cocoa, oil palms, kola nuts, and timber, form the base of agriculture in Ghana's economy. In 2013 agriculture employed 53.6% of the total labor force in Ghana.Clark, Nancy L. "Agriculture" (and subchapters). A Country Study: Ghana (La Verle Berry, editor). Library of Congress Federal Research Division (November 1994). This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
Because such a larger part of the economy is dependent on rainfed agriculture, it is expected that climate change in Ghana will have serious consequences for both cash crops and staple crop production.
About of land, covering approximately 57% of the country's total land area of is classified as "agricultural land area" out of which is under cultivation and 11,000 hectares under irrigation.
Production Ghana produced in 2018: 20.8 million tons of cassava (4th largest producer in the world, second only to Nigeria, Thailand and Congo); 7.8 million tons of yam (2nd largest producer in the world, second only to Nigeria); 4.1 million tons of plantain (2nd largest producer in the world, just behind Congo); 2.6 million tons of palm oil (8th largest producer in the world); 2.3 million tons of maize; 1.4 million tons of taro (4th largest producer in the world, second only to Nigeria, China and Cameroon); 947 thousand tons of cocoa (2nd largest producer in the world, second only to Ivory Coast); 769 thousand tons of rice; 753 thousand tons of orange (19th largest producer in the world); 713 thousand tons of pineapple (11th largest producer in the world); 521 thousand tons of peanut;
In addition, there are smaller productions of other agricultural products such as, sweet potato (151 thousand tons), natural rubber (23 thousand tons) and tobacco (2.3 thousand tons).
The Ministry of Food and Agriculture has produced an integrated pest management plan for the country.
History
Under British colonial rule, Ghanaian farmers seized the opportunity to efficiently grow and export cocoa for the large British market, given that they had a safe food supply. The labor force needed for the labor-intensive production of cocoa in Ghana's fertile south was mainly constituted of migrant workers from the savannah of northern Ghana. This development was facilitated by the traditional Ghanaian system of communal purchase of land, which gave individual farmers the security of planting a cocoa tree that would take several years until being ready to harvest. Among other factors, this enabled Ghana to grow from zero in 1891 to the world's largest cocoa exporter in the world by 1911.
The first president of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah attempted to use agricultural wealth as a springboard for the country's overall economic development. The Ghanaian agricultural output has consistently fallen since the 1960s. Beginning with the drop in commodity prices in the late 1960s, farmers were faced with fewer incentives to produce as well as with a general deterioration of necessary infrastructure and services. Farmers have also had to deal with increasingly expensive inputs, such as fertilizer, because of the overvaluation of the cedi. Food production has fallen as well, with a decline in the food self-sufficiency ratio from 83 percent in 1965–66 to 71 percent in 1900–80, coupled with a fourfold increase in food imports in the decade prior to 1982. By 1983, when drought hit the region, food shortages were widespread, and export crop production reached an all-time low.
When the Rawlings government initiated the first phase of the Economic Recovery Program (ERP) in 1984, agriculture was identified as the economic sector that could rescue Ghana from a financial ruin. Accordingly, since that time, the government has invested significant funds in the rehabilitation of agriculture. The government had directed capital toward repairing and improving the transportation and distribution infrastructure serving export crops. In addition, specific projects aimed at increasing cocoa yields and at developing the timber industry had been initiated. Except for specific development programs, however, the government had tried to allow the free market to promote higher producer prices and to increase efficiency.
Although the government was criticized for focusing on exports rather than on food crops under the ERP, by the early 1990s, the Provisional National Defence Council had begun to address the need to increase local production of food. In early 1991, the government announced that one goal of the Medium Term Agricultural Development Program 1991–2000 was to attain food self-sufficiency and security by the year 2000. To this end, the government sought to improve extension services for farmers and to improve crop-disease research. Despite the statements concerning the importance of food crops, however, the plan was still heavily oriented toward market production, improvement of Ghana's balance-of-payments position, and provision of materials for local industrial production. Furthermore, the government planned to rely more heavily on the private sector for needed services and to reduce the role of the public sector, a clear disadvantage for subsistence producers. In particular, industrial tree crops such as cocoa, coffee, and oil palm seedlings were singled out for assistance. Clearly, agricultural sectors that could not produce foreign exchange earnings were assigned a lower priority under the ERP.
The people of the north attempted to reduce its role in marketing and assistance to farmers in several ways. In particular, the Cocoa Marketing Board steadily relinquished its powers over pricing and marketing. The government, furthermore, established a new farmers' organization, the Ghana National Association of Farmers and Fishermen, in early 1991 to replace the Ghana Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives. The new organization was to be funded by the farmers themselves to operate as a cooperative venture at the district, regional, and national levels. Although the government argued that it did not want to be accused of manipulating farmers, the lack of government financial support again put subsistence producers at a disadvantage.
Agricultural products Cocoa
For over 81 years Agriculture in Ghana has been regulated by one of its highest yielding exports-Cocoa. Cocoa is Ghana's principal agricultural export. Cocoa production occurs in the forested areas of Ghana: Ashanti Region, Ahafo Region, Central Region, Eastern Region, Western Region and Volta Region. The crop year begins in October while the smaller mid-crop cycle starts in July. All cocoa, except that which is smuggled out of the country, is sold at fixed prices. Although most cocoa production is carried out by peasant farmers, a small number of farmers appear to dominate the trade. The government controls the industry through the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD). , Ghana's cocoa bean exports were valued at $2,219.5 million (US).
As of 2017, Ghana is ranked number two for Cocoa exports behind Côte d'Ivoire bringing in a $1,914 per metric ton (2204.6 lbs. • ~$.868/lbs) received; Cocoa is slated to exceed the national average supply by 97,500 metric tons. This massive increase, in turn, will cause "supply and demand" issues for larger and smaller farmers sharing a 1.3-billion-dollar syndicated loan disbursed by the government for the 2017–2018 season.
The success of Ghana in cocoa production has shaped the economy a great deal and has been able to provide livelihood to more than half a million farmers in the southern part of the country. However, this did not happen overnight but by deliberate worldwide economic reforms.
Sweet Potato
The sweet potato is a viable resource, because it can be used for many things. The very roots of the sweet potato can be used to help mothers wean their children off of mother's milk. Even though the sweet potato is a good food source for humans, it can be also used in the feeding of livestock. Ghana is considered the leader in research of root crop. The sweet Potato is considered a prime crop. It is mostly grown in the northern parts of Ghana, as well as nationally.
When the sweet potato is brought to market it is processed into things like flour, bread, and beverages are made. Northern Ghana has not been able to take full advantage of this food source, in every part of the country, because some of the land is not fertile, and a complex socioeconomic limitation such as many farm owners not being able to come together. This causes a disruption in the market. There is this mistrust among the local farmers because most of the farmers have different opinions on how the product should be marketed. There are five groups of people that help get the Sweet potato to market, the Farmers, traders, commission agents the processors and final the consumers. They all deal with each other in a private and individuals basis. Transportation of the sweet potato is mostly done by outside source such as hired transportation.
Commercial crops
The main industrial crops are oil palm, cotton, rubber, sugar cane, tobacco, and kenaf, the latter used in the production of fiber bags. None is of strategic economic importance, and all, apart from oil palms. Despite claims that such crops could assist local industrialization efforts, the government has not focused the same attention on this sector as on export crops. For example, sugar cane output has diminished with the closure of the country's two sugar mills, which produced 237,000 tons per year in 1974–76, but only 110,000 tons in 1989.
The government has actually encouraged the export rather than the local processing of rubber, rehabilitating more than 3,000 hectares of plantations specifically for export production rather than revitalizing the local Bonsa Tire Company, which could produce only 400 tires per day in 1988 despite its installed capacity for 1,500 per day.
By the 1990s, the tobacco sector was expanding and moving toward higher export production. Ghana's dark-fired leaf probably grew too fast and required rich soil to compete effectively with rival crops, but the potential for flue-cured and Burley varieties is good. Pricing difficulties had reduced tobacco production from 3,400 tons in the early 1970s to an estimated 1,433 tons in 1989. Output began to improve in 1990, reaching 2,080 tons. In 2006–2007 BAT (British America Tobacco) shut down their Torikawa plant amid a social movement against tobacco smoking which resulted from high taxes caused by heavy tobacco smuggling.
The Leaf Development Company was established in 1988 to produce tobacco leaf for the local market and to lay the basis for a future export industry. In 1991, the company's first commercial crop amounted to 300 tons of flue-cured, 50 tons of Burley, and 50 tons of dark-fired tobacco (all green leaf weights), of which 250 tons were exported, earning US$380,000. In 1991 Rothmans, the British tobacco company, acquired a 49.5 percent stake in the company and took over management of the Meridian Tobacco Company in partnership with the state-owned Social Security and National Insurance Trust. Another firm, the Pioneer Tobacco Company, announced a 92 percent increase in post-tax profits of more than ¢1 billion for 1991. The company declared dividends worth ¢360 million, double the amount paid out in 1990.