President of the Federation of Associations of Ghanaian Exporters (FAGE), Davis Korboe, has warned that Ghana risks missing out on major export opportunities due to the country’s failure to produce enough agricultural output to meet international demand.
Speaking at the 2025 Citi Business Forum on Thursday, June 19, under the theme “Harnessing Agribusiness Potential for Economic Growth: Expanding Agricultural Frontiers and Maximising Productivity in Ghana,” he lamented the long-standing neglect of the country’s production base.
“If you are talking about export, if you do not produce, what do you export? And that has been the fundamental question because we have neglected the production ecosystem for a while now, and I think that is what we need to fix,” he stated.
Mr. Korboe disclosed that Ghana recently lost out on a $300 million food logistics deal simply because the country could not supply the required agricultural produce.
“This year, for instance, food logistics gave us a deal of almost 300 million dollars, and the issue here is: do we have the produce? And the answer is no. So this is what we need to try and fix,” he said.
He stressed that without a strong base of raw produce, discussions around value addition and export-led growth would be meaningless.
“If you want to add value to whatever product, if you do not have the product, what do you add value to? And that has been missing for some time now. We think that it needs to be fixed,” he added.
Highlighting the high-risk nature of agriculture, Mr. Korboe urged stakeholders to be deliberate and strategic in their approach to expanding production, noting that passion and intention must guide the sector’s transformation.
“There are risks in every sector, but the risk in agriculture is very high. You need to be very passionate and very intentional. So I think that the issue here is we need to be able to fix our produce sector,” he emphasised.