We have fertile land, hardworking farmers, agricultural research institutions, a large domestic market and millions of young people searching for jobs. Yet ships and trucks continue bringing into Ghana enormous quantities of rice, poultry, tomatoes and tomato products, vegetable oils and other foods that we have the potential to produce or process locally.
This should concern us.
Every unnecessary food import is not merely a product entering Ghana. It represents foreign exchange leaving the country and a potential production opportunity being lost.
Consider poultry. Ghanaian farmers have complained for years about high feed costs, expensive credit and competition from imported frozen chicken. Meanwhile, Ghana continues importing large quantities of poultry to satisfy domestic demand.
Then there is rice.
Rice has become a major part of the Ghanaian diet, yet imported brands continue to occupy significant space in our shops and supermarkets despite years of campaigns encouraging consumers to buy Ghana rice.
Tomatoes present an equally troubling picture. Ghanaian tomato farmers sometimes struggle to find profitable markets while traders and processors depend on imported fresh tomatoes and tomato products.
Vegetable oil tells a similar story. Ghana has the agricultural potential to expand oil palm, soybean, coconut and other oilseed production and build stronger domestic refining and processing industries. Yet imported vegetable oils remain prominent in the market.
Something is wrong with this economic arrangement.
We cannot tell Ghanaian farmers to produce more when they are uncertain about who will buy what they already produce.
Before asking farmers to increase production, let us first build markets for Ghanaian food.
Government itself can lead.
Schools, hospitals, prisons, security agencies and other public institutions purchase enormous quantities of food every year. Wherever local producers can meet appropriate standards, price and supply requirements, public procurement should deliberately prioritise Ghanaian rice, poultry, cooking oil, vegetables and other locally produced foods.
But protecting Ghanaian agriculture does not mean closing our borders or banning everything imported.
It means creating fair conditions for domestic producers to compete.
Government must tackle high financing costs, irrigation deficiencies, inadequate storage, poor roads, post-harvest losses and expensive agricultural inputs. It must also deal firmly with smuggling, under-invoicing and substandard imports.
Our farmers cannot be expected to compete internationally while producing under some of the highest-cost conditions at home.
Agriculture must also be connected to industry.
Maize and soybeans should feed a competitive poultry industry. Oil palm, coconut and soybeans should supply vegetable-oil processors. Tomatoes should feed modern processing factories. Ghanaian rice should be properly milled, packaged, branded and distributed nationwide.
This is not simply about food.
It is about jobs.
When Ghana imports food that could competitively be produced locally, we are also importing somebody else’s production while exporting potential employment opportunities.
The solution, however, cannot be patriotism alone. Ghanaian producers must deliver quality, consistency, good packaging and competitive prices. Consumers deserve value for their money.
The objective should be simple: Ghana must produce more of what it eats, process more of what it produces and import only where imports genuinely make economic sense.
We cannot control what happens to food prices on farms thousands of kilometres away. We cannot control wars, export restrictions or global shipping disruptions.
But we can decide how seriously we take our own agriculture.
Ghana has the land. We have the farmers. We have the market.
What we need is the political will, investment and national determination to connect them.
A country that cannot increasingly feed itself cannot claim true economic independence. Ghana must be ready—and willing—to feed itself.
