The Ministry of Food and Agriculture has distributed 40,000 bags of inorganic fertilisers, five agricultural drones, and nearly 8,000 cartons of organic fertilisers to farmers across the country as part of efforts to strengthen food production and reduce dependence on imports.
The distribution took place at a ceremony held at the Ministry’s forecourt in Accra on Tuesday under the Feed Ghana Programme, a government initiative aimed at improving agricultural productivity and ensuring food security.
Speaking at the event, the Minister for Food and Agriculture, Hon. Eric Opoku, said the intervention goes beyond the supply of inputs and reflects a broader national commitment to agriculture.
“We are not merely distributing agricultural inputs,” he said. “We are affirming that the Ghanaian farmer is central to national development, and that transformation begins from the soil.”
The 40,000 bags of fertiliser were handed over to the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana for onward distribution to member farmers, particularly those who may not benefit from district-level allocations. The Minister added that additional supplies will be distributed nationwide through district agricultural offices in the coming days, alongside support for registered institutions under the programme.
Five agricultural drones were also presented to the association to support modern farming practices. The equipment is expected to help farmers monitor crop health, detect pests and diseases early, and improve farm management decisions.
Mr. Opoku noted that agriculture is evolving beyond traditional methods, stressing the role of technology in the sector.
“The future of agriculture will not be built only with the hoe and cutlass,” he said. “It will also depend on data, drones, improved seeds, fertilisers, irrigation, mechanisation, and precision farming.”
He added that modernising agriculture is also key to attracting young people into the sector by making farming more efficient and commercially viable.
The Ministry also distributed 7,936 cartons of organic fertilisers to selected cooperatives and irrigation schemes, including groups in Abokobi, Adenta, Michel Camp, and the ICOUR Tono Irrigation Scheme. The remaining 6,500 cartons will be allocated to farmers in southern Ghana ahead of the upcoming minor farming season.
He further explained that the Feed Ghana Programme is designed to address several national priorities, including food price stability, import reduction, job creation, and industrial development.
“Increased production will not come from speeches alone,” he said. “It depends on timely access to inputs and strong coordination across irrigation, mechanisation, extension services, finance, markets, and agro-processing.”
The programme forms part of government’s broader efforts to modernise agriculture and build a more resilient and self-sufficient food system.
The Minister for Food and Agriculture, Honourable Eric Opoku, has reiterated Government’s commitment to supporting agro-processing businesses to help create jobs, add value to farm produce and provide ready markets for farmers.
The Minister made the commitment when he paid a working visit to P&A African Food International Limited in Accra on Friday 19th June, 2026 he reaffirmed that Ghana’s agriculture sector must move beyond production and focus more on processing and value addition.
He noted that although crop production, such as maize, has increased, farmers are still struggling to find stable markets.
“Our farmers have produced so much, but consumption alone cannot absorb everything. We need more companies to process agricultural products and create markets,” Hon. Opoku said.
The Minister praised P&A African Food for investing in agro-processing, stating that such initiatives help reduce post-harvest losses, create jobs, and increase farmers’ incomes.
According to Hon. Eric Opoku, value addition remains central to Government’s agricultural transformation agenda and the 24-Hour Economy policy.
He stressed that the future of agriculture lies not only in farming but also in processing, packaging, storage, transportation, and marketing, which create more employment opportunities for the youth.
The Minister also raised concerns about poultry farmers, especially egg producers, who are facing weak market demand, noting that agro-processing investments could help address the challenge.
He assured the company of Government’s support, adding that the Ministry is working with partners to provide funding opportunities for agro-processing expansion.
Hon. Opoku further encouraged strong partnerships between processors and farmers through guaranteed off-take agreements, which would boost production and market stability and urged Ghanaians to buy locally made products.
“When we buy locally made products, we support our farmers and our economy,” he said.
He also called on the media to help promote Ghanaian-made products and raise public awareness about the importance of supporting local industries.
The Managing Director of P&A African Food International Limited, Mr. Richard Mainoo, appealed for Government’s support to expand operations, including processing equipment, warehouses, working capital, and transport logistics to increase production and exports
A Civil society organisation with interest in social justice, SEND GHANA, and its partners have appealed to the government to expedite the distribution of agricultural inputs to farmers under its government’s flagship Feed Ghana Programme, as the planting season begins across the country.
The organisation said delays in the release of seeds, fertilisers and other essential farm inputs could negatively affect this year’s farming season and undermine efforts to improve food security.
In a statement issued in Accra yesterday, SEND Ghana said its interactions with farmers in the Northern, Oti, Volta and Bono East regions indicated that many farmers were yet to receive farming inputs despite the onset of the rains.
Quicken farm inputs distribution under Feed Ghana initiative – SEND Ghana to govt
Juliet Akyaa Safo4 minutes read
A Civil society organisation with interest in social justice, SEND GHANA, and its partners have appealed to the government to expedite the distribution of agricultural inputs to farmers under its government’s flagship Feed Ghana Programme, as the planting season begins across the country.
The organisation said delays in the release of seeds, fertilisers and other essential farm inputs could negatively affect this year’s farming season and undermine efforts to improve food security.
In a statement issued in Accra yesterday, SEND Ghana said its interactions with farmers in the Northern, Oti, Volta and Bono East regions indicated that many farmers were yet to receive farming inputs despite the onset of the rains.
It added that checks conducted with Department of Agriculture also revealed that most metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) had not received the inputs for onward distribution to farmers.
Executive Branch
Feed Ghana Programme
The initiative was launched by President John Dramani Mahama in April last year to boost local food production, create jobs and reduce the country’s reliance on imported food.
Popularly referred to as ‘Yeridua’, to wit, “we are planting”, the programme is centred on practical farming approaches that involve households, schools, communities and institutions.
It also involves sub-projects on vegetables, grains, poultry, oil palm, tubers and other import substitutes to reduce the country’s reliance on imports, return to a culture of self-reliance and build a stronger food system that works for everyone, from farmers in rural areas to families living in cities.
The Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu, has assured Ghanaians that government has made adequate financial provisions to guarantee sufficient food supply for students in senior high schools across the country under the Free Senior High School programme.
According to the Minister, the government has undertaken a review of the implementation of the Free SHS policy and identified key challenges affecting the smooth running of the programme, particularly issues relating to food supply and student feeding.
He explained that measures have now been put in place to address those concerns to ensure uninterrupted academic activities in secondary schools.
Haruna Iddrisu gave the assurance during the commissioning of the National Teaching Council’s regional office complex in Tamale, where he reiterated the government’s commitment to sustaining and improving the flagship educational policy.
Speaking at the event, the minister acknowledged that food shortages had, in the past, created serious difficulties for some schools under the Free SHS programme, leading to disruptions in academic work and forcing students to return home before the completion of the school term.
However, he stressed that the government has now secured adequate resources to prevent such situations from recurring.
“Having examined the feeding of Free Senior High School students, we realised that there were many times that schools had to be closed down or, in the course of the academic year, students had to be asked to go home because there was inadequate food. That is now a thing of the past.”
The Education Minister stated that the government has strengthened financing arrangements for the programme through the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund), which he said would ensure consistent support for the policy.
“There are adequate resources and adequate funding from GetFund to finance Free Senior High School.”
For years, Ghana stood out in West Africa for the wrong reason. It had no national food reserve system, even as neighbouring countries had already established theirs.
That revelation came from the CEO of the National Food Buffer Stock Company, George Abradu-Otoo, who described government’s recent efforts to build food reserves as a major policy shift despite severe funding constraints.
Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express Business Edition on Thursday, Mr Abradu-Otoo said the company has so far received only ₵300 million for grain purchases, far below what is required to undertake a meaningful intervention.
“Last year, Minister of Finance Dr Ato Forson announced that they were giving us further ₵200 million to continue the good work that we were doing, so in other words, so far we had only ₵300 million,” he said.
According to him, the amount is insufficient for the scale of work expected from the Buffer Stock Company.
“If we need to do proper meaningful mopping up of excess grains, we need no less than ₵1.5 billion, so you can imagine what ₵300 million has done,” he stated.
Despite the shortfall, Mr Abradu-Otoo insisted the allocation represents an important first step toward establishing a national food reserve system.
“But it’s a good beginning because it hasn’t been done before. That’s where I draw my comfort from,” he said.
He noted that successive governments had never seriously pursued maintaining strategic food reserves, making the current initiative significant.
“It’s a good beginning for the government to even think in the first place that we need to have a national food reserve,” he added.
Mr Abradu-Otoo said Ghana’s absence from the list of countries with food reserves was particularly striking given developments elsewhere in the sub-region.
“Because if you take the West African sub-region, Ghana is the only country that did not have a food reserve, can you believe that?” he said.
He pointed to neighbouring countries that had already established such systems.
The Buffer Stock CEO’s comments come as government seeks to strengthen food security and stabilise prices by purchasing excess grains from farmers and storing them for future use.
However, his remarks suggest that achieving that objective on a meaningful scale will require substantially higher investments than those committed so far.
For now, Mr Abradu-Otoo believes the most important breakthrough is that Ghana has finally begun taking steps toward building a strategic food reserve, a policy many of its West African neighbours embraced years ago.
The government, through the National Food Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO), has registered 45 accredited Licensed Buying Companies (LBCs) to purchase grains, particularly maize and rice, from farmers in major producing areas across the country.
The Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr John Dumelo, who disclosed this, said the move formed part of efforts to address the current glut of maize and rice on the market.
Mr Dumelo made the statement on the floor of Parliament last Thursday while responding to an urgent question on the grain glut and measures being taken to resolve the situation.
He explained that the involvement of the LBCs in purchasing grains from farmers would help reduce post-harvest losses and stabilise prices.
The Deputy Minister said the government was addressing the glut through a mix of direct purchasing, processing, storage and other interventions under the Feed Ghana programme.
He warned that failure to tackle the situation could discourage farmers from continuing the production of rice and maize.
Rice
Mr Dumelo further indicated that the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, in collaboration with donor partners, was strengthening the country’s food systems and infrastructure through the refurbishment of storage warehouses and the procurement of equipment.
He said these measures would expand storage capacity and enable NAFCO to purchase and store larger quantities of food grains.
As part of long-term strategies to prevent future gluts, Mr Dumelo disclosed that the government was establishing five new maize-processing factories across the country to shift the focus from storage to value addition.
He also noted that a government directive requiring state institutions to prioritise the purchase of locally produced rice and maize would help absorb excess production.
According to him, the interventions being implemented by the Ministry underscore the government’s commitment to resolving the challenges facing rice and maize farmers.
