GH¢100m fund to drive agricultural transformation launched

Mr Odarteifio (left) and Mr Opoku (second from left) with other dignitaries at the launch.

The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr Eric Opoku, has launched a GH¢100 million agricultural fund to support the government’s agricultural transformation agenda. Known as the Ghana Agriculture Fund for Education and Transformation (GAFET), the fund is intended to build a sustainable national endowment to support skills development, innovation, mechanisation and agricultural enterprise.

It will also invest in institutions that train the country’s agricultural engineers, researchers, agribusiness leaders and entrepreneurs. Launching the fund in Accra yesterday, Mr Opoku called for stronger collaboration between the public and private sectors to transform agricultural education and equip the country with the skilled human capital needed to drive agricultural transformation.

He said agricultural transformation depended not only on investments in machinery, irrigation and financing, but also on the quality of people trained to design, operate, maintain and improve those systems.

"Before we can sustainably feed Ghana, we must equip Ghana. Before we transform our farms, we must strengthen the institutions that prepare the people who transform those farms." — Mr Eric Opoku, Minister of Food and Agriculture

Mr Opoku said the initiative formed an important human capital pillar of the government’s Feed Ghana Programme, which sought to increase food production, modernise farming, expand irrigation and mechanisation, promote agro-processing, reduce dependence on food imports, boost exports and create sustainable jobs, particularly for young people and women.

The minister noted that agricultural colleges, universities, technical institutions and research and training centres had, over the years, produced professionals who provided frontline extension services, technical support and practical leadership across the agricultural value chain. However, he said many of the institutions required renewed investment in laboratories, workshops, demonstration farms, modern machinery, digital learning tools, research and industry-responsive curricula.

Mr Opoku underscored the need for agricultural education to combine sound theoretical knowledge with practical competence to enable graduates to respond effectively to the challenges confronting farmers and agribusinesses. He explained that the scale of the challenge required a partnership beyond government, adding that GAFET would provide a national platform for the private sector, development partners, financial institutions, philanthropic organisations, alumni associations and individuals to contribute to agricultural education and capacity development.

Mr Opoku mentioned that an initial GH¢3.5 million had been mobilised by five agribusinesses, such as Grow For Me, Agrisol, Thermaline, New Age AgriSolutions and Trade Line Consort towards the fund. He said the immediate target was to grow the fund to GH¢10 million by December 2026 and GH¢100 million by December 2028.

The minister said the fund would be managed under a transparent governance framework comprising a governing board, an independent fund administrator, a licensed fund manager, a custodian bank and an independent external auditor.

The Co-Coordinator of GAFET, Mr Steven Nhyira Odarteifio, said Ghana could not transform its agriculture without first transforming the institutions that educated and trained the future agricultural workforce. He emphasised that many agricultural graduates completed their programmes without sufficient hands-on experience in operating machinery, managing demonstration farms, repairing equipment or working with modern irrigation systems.

Mr Odarteifio said GAFET would support 21 beneficiary institutions through investments in laboratories, workshops, demonstration farms, modern machinery, research, digital learning tools, scholarships, internships and industrial attachments.

BY CLIFF EKUFUL