The site of a rice farm plagued by drought in the Volta Region.
The Ghana Rice Inter-Professional Body (GRIB) has revealed that rice production in the Volta Region of Ghana faces bleak consequences this year due to ongoing drought conditions which are disrupting production in some parts of the Region.
According to the body, farmers in the Akatsi North and South districts in the Volta Region have been gravely affected by poor rainfall patterns and are likely to lose their entire output for the 2021/2022 season.
“In Ketu South alone, over 700 hectares of rice have been lost to the drought. “The problem covers several areas including Kpoglu, Avalavi, Klenomadi and Avie in Ketu North, Akatsi in Akatsi South, Tongu Districts, Afadzato South District and Hohoe Municipal areas,” the President said.
This comes as a blow to the sector, which is an attempt to wean the country off rice importation by achieving self-sufficiency in production by 2025.
As if that is not enough, the affected farmers will have to wait till next year before they can earn some income.
Speaking to the reporter, President of GRIB Nana Agyei Ayeh II said some members of the farmers reached out to him to ascertain the situation and find a solution to the looming danger.
The President, together with some of the officials of the John A. Kufuor Foundation paid a working visit to the farms, and on their observation, several hectares of rice under cultivation are lost due to climate change and low levels of rainfall in these communities.
The woes of the farmers are further exacerbated by the huge investments they have already made in land preparation, seeds, and fertilizer.
However, the provisional production figures by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) indicate that about 973, 000 metric tonnes of rice were produced in Ghana in 2020. But, this figure could be hard to match in 2021 if the current situation persists.
Nana Agyei Ayeh II revealed that the existing dam structure which was built to harvest water to irrigate the farmlands is in a dire state of disrepair, leaving farmers at the mercy of the harsh weather conditions.
“We cannot continue with rain-fed agriculture. As you can see, this year, farmers have lost their investments simply because the rains failed them.
We would like to appeal to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to provide dugouts for these areas. These will aid in water conservations for the purposes of irrigation in such times like what we facing now” he added.
The Tamale Metropolitan Assembly (TaMA) has received and distributed 9,000 50-kilogramme bags of NPK fertiliser and 1,000 bags of urea to selected farmers in the Metropolis to support agricultural production and improve food security.
Mr Adam Abubakari Takoro, Tamale Metropolitan Chief Executive, announced this in his sessional address at the Second Ordinary Meeting of the Third Session of the Ninth Assembly in Tamale.
He said agriculture remained a major driver of the national and local economy, stressing the need for sustained investment to make the sector more attractive, particularly to the youth.
Mr Takoro said the fertiliser distribution formed part of interventions by the Assembly to support farmers and enhance agricultural productivity in the Metropolis.
He also said quantities of birds would soon be received and distributed to households under the Government’s Nkokonkiti initiative.
He said the Assembly was among four Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies in the Northern Region selected for an aquaculture pilot project under the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development.
He said about 40 people from the Tamale South and Central constituencies had been selected to receive training, form cooperatives and receive support to establish fish farms.
Mr Takoro said the Assembly was also implementing measures to improve the environmental resilience of the Metropolis and mitigate the effects of climate change.
He said the Assembly targeted planting 150,000 trees under the Government’s Tree for Life initiative to help transform Tamale into a cleaner, greener and climate-resilient city.
He said the Northern Region was expected to plant about 1.2 million trees out of the national target of 30 million trees under the programme.
The Chief Executive said the Assembly, in collaboration with the Dibeni Premier Group, had also commenced the “Shade Dagbang Project” to increase tree cover along major streets, with 176 palm trees already planted along selected principal roads.
He said the Assembly was further implementing the Reset Tamale Initiative in collaboration with PAMEPI Women in Technology Ghana, focusing on climate resilience, water and sanitation, and educational infrastructure.
Mr Takoro, speaking on sanitation, described waste generation, evacuation and disposal as major concerns and encouraged Assembly Members to prioritise monthly National Sanitation Days in their electoral areas.
He said the Assembly would continue to strengthen social protection interventions, including support for persons with disabilities and the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty programme.
Mr Takoro highlighted ongoing development projects, including the construction of a 20-bed male ward at the West Hospital valued at GH¢1,812,087.24, and called for stronger collaboration among stakeholders to accelerate development in the Metropolis.
The Environmental and Sanitation Unit of the Tatale Sanguli District in the Northern Region has confiscated and destroyed expired beverages and other food products discovered in shops and stores across the district.
The exercise formed part of efforts by the district authorities to protect consumers and ensure that food products available on the market meet required health and safety standards.
Officials inspected a number of shops and storage facilities during the operation and removed several expired items from circulation.
The authorities said the exercise would help prevent residents from consuming products that could pose health risks.
Traders and shop owners have consequently been cautioned to regularly check the expiry dates of products in their possession and ensure that expired items are not offered for sale.
Residents have also been encouraged to support the enforcement efforts by reporting traders suspected of selling expired or unsafe food products to the relevant authorities.
Officials believe increased public cooperation will help strengthen food safety and protect public health in the district.
Speaking to Channel One TV during the disposal of the confiscated products, Head of the Environmental and Sanitation Unit, Nasigri Abukari, said protecting public health remained the primary objective of the exercise.
“Public health is our major concern and as practitioners we are to ensure that people consume wholesome food from the market,” he said.
Mr Abukari warned traders that offenders would face the appropriate sanctions, adding: “We are serving a notice to everybody within the district that we are coming and once we find you selling expired products, we will ensure the law comes after you.”
The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has set August 27, 2026, as the deadline for purchases under the 2026 Light Crop Season.
The deadline will allow Licensed Buying Companies (LBCs) to complete the submission of returns on cocoa purchases made from producing areas before the season closes.
Dr Ransford A. Abbey, Chief Executive of COCOBOD, announced the deadline in a statement issued in Accra on Tuesday.
“To assist the Licensed Buying Companies (LBCs) in obtaining the final returns from up-country, Ghana Cocoa has decided that returns for the declared purchases will be accepted up to 4:00pm on Thursday, August 27, 2026,” he said.
The Light Crop Season opened on June 18, 2026, with COCOBOD maintaining the producer price at GH¢1,241 per 30-kilogramme load, equivalent to GH¢2,587 per 64-kilogramme gross bag.
The producer price was maintained despite declining global cocoa prices, as the Board sought to protect farmers’ incomes.
The August 27 deadline applies to returns for declared purchases and will bring the 2026 Light Crop purchasing period to a close.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Tree Crops Development Authority (TCDA) has revealed that the Authority is ready to ensure that the vision of His Excellency, President John Dramani Mahama ensuring Ghana’s self-sufficiency in the Red Gold, thus Oil Palm would be achieved.
He said this at the first National Oil Palm Multi-Stakeholder Roundtable Forum held at Chartered Institute of Bankers Hall, Accra.
The Forum with the theme; From Policy to Practice, the role of TCDA in Resetting Ghana’s Oil Palm Industry convened policy makers, researchers, finance, security officers, develop partners and agribusiness who designed a framework to augment achieving the vision.
The palm oil is the world-leading vegetable oil, accounting for roughly 37% of the total oil seed output.
It is a crop with an extraordinary strategic value, yielding more oil per hectare than any other major vegetable crop, and serving as a vital raw material for food processing, cosmetics, soap-making, biofuels, and diverse downstream industries, yet, the global market distribution presents just a diminutive for our region.
Bridging the palm oil production gap between Ghana producing 3.5%, Malaysia and Indonesia who produce 80, 90%, the government has targeted hundred thousand (100,000) hectares of new oil palm plantation to supplement the existing 360,000 hectares.
By 2032, he said, TCDA through the new national policy, should formalized palm oil production. The Authority has been designated as a key regulatory institution responsible for licensing, planning, production and data management.
According to Dr. Okrah, the goal of the TCDA is to focus on the ambition of expanding plantations, create sustainable jobs, reduce reliance on imported edible oils, and position Ghana as a competitive, respected player in the global palm oil market.
Enhancing the realization of the vision, he told Agric Today Media that TCDA’s mandate is to regulate and develop the value chain; the oil palm value chain.
“Our role, first, as a firm regulator. We are responsible for enforcing licensing, quality standards, industry data compliance, ensuring fair trading and transparent practices across the value chain”, he mentioned.
He stressed that TCDA act as an active enabler; meaning the Authority develop the capacity of the stakeholders by coordinating planting programs, facilitating access to certified seeds and seedlings, and opening the sector for sustainable investment opportunities and market accessibility.
With these stringent measures, capacity development, and the hectare expansion, the Authority is poised to contribute meaningfully to the actualization of Ghana’s self-sufficient in the Red Gold.
He called all the stakeholders and the general public to rally behind the vision to bridge the production gap to mitigate oil palm and vegetable oil importation to create jobs for the youth.
The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has barred Licensed Buying Companies (LBCs) from purchasing cocoa beans on credit from farmers, warning that companies that breach the directive risk losing their operating licences.
Chief Executive Officer of COCOBOD, Dr. Randy Abbey, speaking at the launch of the Chamber of Cocoa Marketers, said the regulator has formally instructed LBCs to end the practice as part of measures to strengthen liquidity, improve payment discipline and restore efficiency across Ghana’s cocoa supply chain.
He disclosed that COCOBOD has already communicated the directive to LBCs, stressing that a repeat violation could trigger license revocation.
“The arrangement is to aid the shorter turnaround time for LBCs so that it can quicken the pace of purchases, eliminate indebtedness to banks and improve the efficiency and profitability of cocoa purchases. We have met as part of our stakeholder engagements, I have told them you are not supposed to buy cocoa on credit from farmers. We have all decided that we will go and sin no more.”
“So we are not withdrawing anybody’s license. But we have written to the effect that if it happens again, your license will be revoked because against the terms of your license. We have also told the farmers that LBCs are not supposed to buy cocoa on credit from you. So don’t go and take your cocoa to any purchasing clerk on credit,” Dr. Randy Abbey said.
The move comes as COCOBOD prepares to overhaul the financing of cocoa purchases, with the new funding model expected to provide sufficient liquidity for crop purchases and related operations throughout the year.
Dr. Abbey said the model, which is expected to take effect from the 2026/27 crop year, is designed to eliminate delays in payments to LBCs after they take over cocoa receipts from farmers.
“The new funding model is to ensure sufficient liquidity for cocoa purchases and related operations all year round. Hence beginning the 26/27 crop year, we hope to eliminate the delays in the payment of cocoa taking over receipts which has been the bane of LBC since 2020,” he remarked.
According to him, faster payment cycles will enable LBCs to accelerate purchases, reduce their indebtedness to financial institutions and improve the efficiency and profitability of cocoa marketing.
The COCOBOD CEO said the financing reforms are also critical to increasing domestic cocoa processing and value addition, as the previous funding structure required much of the crop to be collateralized for financing, limiting access to raw beans for local processors.
He said the new financing mechanism is intended to provide liquidity for cocoa procurement while supporting Ghana’s ambition to retain more value from its cocoa production domestically.
The reforms form part of the new Ghana Cocoa Board Bill 2026, which Dr. Abbey said guarantees cocoa farmers 70% of gross FOB value while allowing producer prices to be adjusted during the season in line with market indicators.
Dr. Randy Abbey said the broader reforms are aimed at improving the financial viability of the cocoa sector, strengthening the value chain and delivering more sustainable returns to farmers and other industry stakeholders.
“These measures and the new bill constitute the most significant reforms to our industry since 1984. So the COCOBOD Act until Parliament passed this new one was a 1984 Act. These reforms are resetting the cocoa sector for growth and industrialisation,” he stressed.
To curb post-harvest losses, and strenthening agrifood systems, it depends on the quality of agricultural human resources that Ghana possesses.
These resources are to be equipped to operate, maintain, improve to transform the sector for more productive, food-secure and prosperous nation.
Achieving this, the Government of Ghana through the leadership of H.E, President John Dramani Mahama considers investment in agricultural education as a national priority, placing agriculture at the centre of Ghana’s economic transformation through Feed Ghana Initiative.
As a results, the government has launched Ghana Agricultural for Educational Transformation to finance the agricultural education to strenthen food security.
Speaking at the launch at The Palms by Eagle Hotel in Airport City, Accra, the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Hon. Eric Opoku said the Fund would support agricultural colleges, universities, technical institutions, research centres and other institutions responsible for training professionals for the sector.
He said the initiative is a key human-capital pillar of the government’s Feed Ghana Programme, stressing that sustainable agricultural transformation depended on skilled engineers, extension officers, researchers, technicians, entrepreneurs and agribusiness professionals.
The Minister said the Fund would help address infrastructure and capacity gaps in agricultural education, including laboratories, workshops, demonstration farms, modern machinery, digital learning tools, research and scholarships.
He announced ambitious targets to grow the Fund from its current seed founding of GH¢3.5 million to GH¢10 million by December 2026 and GH¢100 million by 2028.
Mr. Opoku commended five Ghanaian agribusinesses—Grow For Me, AgriSolve, Farmerline, Newage Agric Solutions and Tradeline Consult—for contributing to the initial seed funding.
He said the Fund would operate under a governance framework involving a Governing Board, independent technical administration, a Securities and Exchange Commission-licensed fund manager, a custodian bank and an independent external auditor to ensure transparency and accountability.
The Minister also called on banks, pension funds, insurance companies, agribusinesses, development partners, philanthropic organisations, alumni associations and individuals to contribute to the initiative.
He urged stakeholders to support specific interventions such as laboratories, workshops, demonstration farms, agricultural machinery, digital tools, applied research, scholarships and internships.
Mr. Opoku said the government’s long-term ambition was to establish the Fund as a permanent statutory institution under the policy oversight of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.
Declaring the Fund officially launched, the Minister said its ultimate goal was to equip generations of Ghanaians with the knowledge and practical skills required to increase food production, transform the economy and secure Ghana’s food future.
The Government has reaffirmed its commitment to transforming Ghana’s oil palm industry, with plans to support the establishment of 100,000 hectares of new oil palm plantations as part of efforts to boost domestic production, create jobs and reduce the country’s dependence on imported palm oil.
The Minister for Food and Agriculture, speaking at the National Oil Palm Multistakeholder Roundtable Forum in Accra on Wednesday, said the expansion programme would form part of a broader strategy to move the industry from policy commitments to measurable results.
Held under the theme “From Policy to Practice: The Role of TCDA in Resetting Ghana’s Oil Palm Industry,” the forum brought together government officials, the Tree Crops Development Authority (TCDA), farmers, processors, investors, research institutions, development partners, traditional authorities and other actors across the oil palm value chain.
The Minister said Ghana had no shortage of policies and studies on agriculture, but stressed that the priority should now be implementation, coordination and accountability.
“Policy acquires value only when it changes lives,” the Minister said, stressing that the forum should produce clear commitments on responsibilities, timelines, resources and measurable targets.
Closing the production gap
According to the Minister, oil palm remains a strategic crop because of its links to both agriculture and industry. The crop supports farmers, nursery operators, transporters, processors, traders and manufacturers, while also providing opportunities for women and young people.
Beyond edible oil, palm products serve as raw materials for industries including soap and cosmetics manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, confectionery, animal feed and bioenergy.
However, Ghana continues to face a significant gap between domestic palm oil production and national demand, resulting in substantial imports.
The Minister described the deficit as more than a supply problem, saying it represents lost employment opportunities, underutilised processing capacity, reduced farmer incomes and foreign exchange that could otherwise remain in the domestic economy.
The situation, he added, also creates opportunities for smuggling and unfair competition, which undermine legitimate businesses and reduce government revenue.
TCDA to anchor industry transformation
The Minister identified the Tree Crops Development Authority, established under the Tree Crops Development Authority Act, 2019 (Act 1010), as the institutional anchor for the oil palm transformation agenda.
TCDA is expected to strengthen registration and licensing, production planning, industry data collection, traceability, quality assurance and coordination among stakeholders.
The Minister said formalisation should not be viewed by businesses as an administrative burden, but as a foundation for credibility, investor confidence, traceability and access to premium markets.
Government, he said, would support TCDA in enforcing industry standards fairly and consistently to protect compliant businesses, consumers and the reputation of Ghanaian palm oil.
Focus on productivity and smallholders
The Minister stressed that the proposed 100,000-hectare expansion should not be measured simply by acreage.
Success, he said, would depend on the quality of planting materials, farm productivity, farmer incomes, inclusion of smallholders, women and young people, secure land arrangements, environmental protection, access to finance, processing efficiency and stronger market linkages.
He called for increased access to high-yielding, climate-resilient and disease-tolerant planting materials, backed by research, certified nurseries, extension services and improved farm management.
Smallholder farmers, he said, must remain at the centre of the industry, with large-scale investment complemented by well-organised and adequately supported smallholder and outgrower schemes.
Farmers must also have access to secure markets, transparent pricing, extension services and affordable inputs, while receiving a fair share of the value generated along the chain.
Land, finance and processing
The Minister also highlighted land tenure and access to finance as major constraints to oil palm development.
Because oil palm is a long-term investment, he called for patient financing arrangements that take into account the crop’s gestation period. Financial institutions, he said, should develop suitable products for nurseries, farmers, aggregators and processors.
Traditional authorities, landowners, district assemblies and investors were urged to promote transparent land arrangements that benefit local communities while reducing potential conflicts.
The Minister further called for investments in efficient processing facilities, storage, logistics, quality control and reliable off-take arrangements.
He said Ghana should move beyond increasing production of fresh fruit bunches to developing more finished palm-based products for domestic consumption and export.
Sustainability and inclusion
Sustainability and traceability were also identified as critical to the industry’s future.
The Minister said Ghana’s oil palm expansion must avoid the destruction of forests and environmentally sensitive landscapes while improving productivity on existing plantations and bringing suitable new areas into production.
He noted that international markets increasingly demand evidence of product origin, environmental responsibility, decent labour practices and quality.
Women and young people, he added, should have deliberate opportunities across production, aggregation, processing, technology, logistics and enterprise development.
Call for coordinated action
The Minister emphasised that the transformation could not be achieved by government alone.
He called for stronger collaboration among the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, TCDA, other government institutions, research organisations, financial institutions, development partners, district assemblies, traditional authorities, farmer organisations and the private sector.
Government, he said, would focus on creating an enabling environment and providing strategic public investment, while the private sector would be expected to contribute capital, technology, innovation, efficiency and access to markets.
The Minister urged participants to ensure that partnerships translated into clear commitments, shared risks, defined responsibilities and measurable outcomes.
He said future assessments of the programme should focus on tangible results, including certified nurseries, productive farms, functioning mills, new businesses, decent jobs, increased domestic palm oil supply and reduced imports.
The Minister said Ghana had the land, climate, knowledge, entrepreneurial capacity and market opportunities required to become a leading producer and processor of sustainable palm oil.
He described the proposed industry reset as a shift from fragmented interventions to coordinated action, low productivity to higher yields, informal operations to a traceable industry, and import dependence to greater national self-reliance and export competitiveness.
At harvest time in Ghana’s cashew-growing communities, the ground beneath the trees tells a familiar story.
While farmers carefully collect the nuts that will be sold to buyers, the fleshy cashew apples attached to them are often left behind. Within hours, the fruit begins to spoil, turning a potentially valuable part of the harvest into waste.
Ghana is one of Africa’s leading cashew producers, harvesting roughly a quarter of a million tonnes of raw cashew nuts each year. The trees also produce far more cashew apples than nuts and industry officials say most of the fruit is never processed or sold.
For decades, the cashew apple has remained largely outside the market economy. Farmers have had few buyers for the fruit, and without nearby processing facilities, transporting it before it spoils is difficult.
Now, researchers, farmers and industry leaders believe the discarded fruit could become a new source of income for rural communities – if Ghana can build the systems needed to collect, process and market it.
From waste to value
For Francisca Aba Ansah, the opportunity became clear after field visits revealed the scale of cashew apple waste. She is a food post-harvest scientist at the CSIR-Food Research Institute and project lead for MA-CASH, a research initiative focused on expanding value from cashew production.
“MA-CASH basically means Maximising Gains from Cashew Production for Youth Development,” Ansah told Al Jazeera. “The project started by looking at the level of waste in growing areas and the processing options available.”
An even bigger barrier was the fruit’s short shelf life. Fresh cashew apples can spoil within 24 hours of harvest, making transport from farms to processing centres problematic.
“When you harvest cashew apples, within 24 hours it goes bad,” she said. “We developed the technology that allows farmers to keep it for up to six days before it is shipped to the processing centre. When it gets there, it can be refrigerated for the whole year for production.”
The preservation technology has been tested through pilot work under the project and could make commercial collection and processing possible for the first time in many farming communities.
The project is also exploring off-season income opportunities, including beekeeping under cashew plantations.
“During the off-season, when you will not be working there, you can actually do beekeeping,” she said. “The honey that comes from cashew has good quality, so farmers can still have their business running.”
Beyond the nut
For some farmers, the idea of creating value from cashew apples is already moving from possibility to practice.
Samuel Nortey Adumoah has experimented with turning the fruit into pito, a traditional local drink, as well as wine and other beverages.
Cashew apples are processed into juice and other products in Ghana as researchers seek to reduce waste and expand value-added production [Courtesy: CSIR Ghana]
Like many farmers, he once viewed the cashew apple as little more than a by-product. Now he believes it could become an important source of income.
“Cashew beverages have strong market potential,” Adumoah told Al Jazeera. “I call on investors to come into this space to assist us because it is very lucrative.”
His experience reflects both the promise and the challenge of building a new industry. Farmers can create products, but scaling those ideas requires investment, infrastructure and reliable links to markets.
The missing supply chain
Raphael Godlove Ahenu, National Coordinator of Cashew Watch Ghana, says many farmers still need support to understand the economic possibilities beyond the nut.
The organisation has been working with farmers, particularly in the Bono Region, to promote value addition and encourage communities to explore processing opportunities.
“For the past two years, we have been mobilising farmers into groups and educating them on how to process cashew into fruit juice and other products, apart from selling the nut to foreign companies,” Ahenu told Al Jazeera.
But he warns that processing facilities alone will not guarantee success.
“This is not the first time a cashew processing factory has been established,” Ahenu said. “Some private companies have set up processing plants, but unfortunately many have struggled or collapsed because they could not secure enough supply from farmers.”
Many farmers depend on advance financing from export buyers supplying major markets such as India and Vietnam, which often determines where their produce is sold.
“Most of the time, foreign buyers give farmers soft loans during the off-season,” he said. “Before the cashew season arrives, farmers have already taken money and are compelled to sell to these buyers.”
Without alternative financing, farmers may struggle to participate in new value chains, even when opportunities emerge.
Creating demand
Financial experts believe cashew apple processing could create additional revenue streams and strengthen farmers’ ability to access credit.
Aaron Owusu Nketia, a financial adviser and loan officer working with cashew farmers in the Bono Region, said local processing could improve confidence among farmers and lenders.
“If the government is able to establish processing factories for cashew upcycling, it will help farmers with additional revenue streams to pay back their loans, and it will encourage banks to give more loans to farmers,” Nketia told Al Jazeera.
But creating an industry requires more than producing new products. Cashew apple juice and other products must compete with established beverages and convince consumers that a fruit once treated as waste has commercial value.
For Robert Abongo, a teacher and community support activist working with farmers in Sekyeredumasi in Ashanti Region, awareness remains a major challenge.
“Most farmers rely solely on the nuts,” Abongo told Al Jazeera. “The government must intensify education on value addition so farmers will be informed and plan with the fruits in mind instead of relying only on the seeds.”
A strategic resource
The government believes cashew apple processing could become part of Ghana’s wider agricultural transformation agenda.
Andrews Osei Okrah, Chief Executive Officer of the Tree Crops Development Authority, said the fruit is increasingly being recognised as more than just an agricultural by-product.
“Once regarded as a by-product, the cashew apple is now a strategic economic resource with immense potential to drive agro-industrialisation, create jobs, improve rural livelihoods and contribute to Ghana’s economic growth,” Osei Okrah told Al Jazeera.
Bottles of cashew apple juice produced in Ghana as part of efforts to turn the often-discarded fruit into a marketable product [Courtesy: CSIR Ghana]
Ghana now has an opportunity but must focus on implementation, said John Y. Kupagme, a researcher and head of the Agriculture Sector at the African Chamber of Content Producers.
“The policy framework provides a solid foundation. What is needed now is coordinated action and sustained investment,” Kupagme told Al Jazeera.
The next harvest
The push to develop a cashew apple economy comes as Ghana searches for ways to diversify agricultural income.
For years, Ghana’s cashew farmers measured the value of their harvest by the nuts they carried away.
Now, they are beginning to look at the fruit that was once left behind. Whether it becomes a new source of income will depend on if Ghana can build a value chain that works from the farm to the factory and finally to consumers.
As another harvest season approaches, the cashew apples will once again fall beneath the trees. The question is whether they will be left to spoil, or collected, processed and sold as the crop that Ghana has been overlooking all along.
“We have the fruits. We have the ideas. We just need the investment to make it work,” Ahenu said.
The Ministry of Food and Agriculture is to launch the Agricultural Education Transformation Fund to to provide sustainable financing for agricultural education, skills development, innovation, mechanization and agribusiness enterprise in Ghana.
The official launch would be held on Tuesday, 11th August 2026 at the Palms By Eagles Hotel at 10am.
In a press release issued by the Ministry, the National Endowment Fund seeks to strengthen agricultural education by mobilising long-term investments to support teaching, practical training, research, innovation, infrastructure and entrepreneurship across agricultural education institutions.
Unlike one-off grants, the AETF is designed as a permanent endowment that preserves its capital while using annual investment returns to finance approved priorities.
According to release, currently, commitments of GHC 3.5 million have been secured towards the Fund, with an initial endowment target of GHC 10million and GHC 100million by December 2026 and December 2028 respectively.
Over time, the Fund is expected to support practical learning, mechanization, research, innovation, technology development, faculty development, scholarships and institutional strengthening across beneficiary institutions.
The Ministry acknowledges the invaluable contribution of the Coalition of Agribusiness Partners whose vision, commitment and investment have been instrumental in bringing the AETF to fruition.
Their collective support reflects not only their confidence in the leadership of the Honorable Minister and His Excellency the President, but also their unwavering belief that transforming agricultural education is the foundation upon which Ghana’s agricultural and economic transformation will be built.
The launch will bring together representatives from government, academia, development partners, financial institutions, agribusinesses, farmer organizations and the private sector to demonstrate a shared commitment to building a sustainable financing platform for agricultural education in Ghana.
The Ministry invites all stakeholders to support the Agricultural Education Transformation Fund and contribute to building a stronger, more innovative and resilient agricultural sector through investment in education and human capital.
ABC Oye Asase Yie, a fertilizer distribution company, has donated 200 bags of organic fertilizers to support the 42nd Farmers’ Day Celebration that will be held at Sunyani in the Bono Region.
Farmers’ Day is a day set aside to honour and recognise the ardent farmers who have contributed immensely to safeguard Ghana’s food security.
“We are here to donate some of our sample fertilizers to support the Farmers’ Day programme. It is an organic fertilizer; however, it can also be used for conventional production”, the representative from ABC Oye Asase Yie explained.
Giving merit to organic fertilizer, he said that it maintains soil structure, water retention in the soil, and nutrient release for plants.
He stated that the sample fertilizers were formulated outside Ghana, but the company is far advanced in building its production plant with a value of USD$55 million, which would contribute to employment.
He underscored the farmers’ contribution to sustaining the lives of individuals in Ghana and across.
Receiving the inputs, the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Hon. Eric Opoku, commended ABC Asase Yie for its generous support for farmers’ development.
He reiterated that the 42nd Farmers’ Day would be celebrated at Sunyani in the Bono Region to reward the hardworking farmers.
He stressed that the ministry is receiving donations from corporate entities, companies, individuals, and from everywhere to support the celebration.
“We want to assure you that whatever you have given us today will be given to the Ghanaian farmers, and eventually it will lead to increased production for the benefit of the Ghanaian people, ” the Minister added.
![Cashew apples are processed into juice and other products in Ghana as researchers seek to reduce waste and expand value-added production [Courtesy: CSIR Ghana]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/1001552917-1786115901.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C578&quality=80)
![Bottles of cashew apple juice produced in Ghana as part of efforts to turn the often-discarded fruit into a marketable product. [Courtesy: CSIR Ghana]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/1001552916-1-1786115904.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C578&quality=80)
