Agriculture in Ghana

The 26th National Farmers' Day of the 2010 Ghana-KITA Best Institution Award in Ashanti Region.

Agriculture in Ghana consists of a variety of agricultural products and is an established economic sector, providing employment on a formal and informal basis.[1][2] It is represented by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.[3] 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.[4][5]

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.[6][7]

About 136,000 km2 of land, covering approximately 57 % of the country’s total land area of 238,539 km2 is classified as "agricultural land area" out of which 58,000 km2 (24.4 %) is under cultivation and 11,000 hectares under irrigation.[8]

  1. ^ "Ghana at a glance". fao. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  2. ^ "Embassy of Ghana – Democratic Republic of Congo". Ghanaembkin. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  3. ^ "Ministry of Food and Agriculture". Ministry of Food and Agriculture. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
  4. ^ Food and Agriculture Policy Decision Analysis (FAPDA). "Country Fact sheet on food and agriculture policy trends" (PDF). Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations. FAO. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
  5. ^ 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.[1]
  6. ^ "Climate Risk Profile: Ghana". Climatelinks. USAID. January 2017. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  7. ^ Baffour-Ata, Frank; Antwi-Agyei, Philip; Nkiaka, Elias; Dougill, Andrew J.; Anning, Alexander K.; Kwakye, Stephen Oppong (1 December 2021). "Effect of climate variability on yields of selected staple food crops in northern Ghana". Journal of Agriculture and Food Research. 6: 100205. doi:10.1016/j.jafr.2021.100205. ISSN 2666-1543.
  8. ^ "Ghana at a glance | FAO in Ghana | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations". www.fao.org. Retrieved 19 October 2024.