President John Dramani Mahama will break ground on Friday at the Afram Plains for the first of 50 planned Farmer Service Centres, the most concrete infrastructure commitment to emerge from the opening of the maiden Ghana AgroTech Fair 2026 in Accra on Tuesday.
The President disclosed that the first phase of the programme will cover 11 centres, with the groundbreaking at Afram Plains scheduled for March 20. The full 50-centre rollout will target Ghana’s major agricultural production areas across the country.
The centres are designed as one-stop service hubs, providing registered farmers with access to tractors, ploughing, harrowing, transportation, fertilisers and grain shellers, as well as training and agricultural extension services. The model mirrors similar mechanisation service centre programmes that have shown mixed but broadly positive results in other African agricultural economies.
The three-day fair, organised by the Ghana Export-Import Bank (GEXIM) and the Ministry of Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, was opened at Independence Square in Accra on March 17 under the theme “Transforming Agribusiness through Local Innovation and Technology.” It runs until March 19 and brings together farmers, agro-processors, technology developers, investors and policymakers.
Addressing delegates at the opening, Mahama framed modern agriculture as an industrial rather than a subsistence undertaking. He said government’s vision is a Ghana that produces, processes, exports and consumes what it makes, arguing that the country must reduce dependence on imported agricultural machinery and build domestic capacity to manufacture and scale agritech solutions. He called on financial institutions and investors to treat agribusiness as a viable and scalable sector and urged universities to accelerate the journey from agricultural research to commercial enterprise.
GEXIM Chief Executive Sylvester Mensah said the fair is intended to be a recurring national platform rather than a one-off event, designed to connect farmers, innovators and investors and to turn ideas into profitable business partnerships.
The Afram Plains groundbreaking on Friday will be the first visible test of whether the mechanisation push moves from announcement to implementation.
