Former Minister for Food and Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, is overwhelmed the World Bank’s decision to provide a $200 million financing from the International Development Association (IDA) for the Ghana Tree Crop Diversification Project (TCDP).
In an interview at his campaign office on Sunday, July 9, 2023, the NPP presidential hopeful noted that the project is very dear to his heart as it seeks diversify and grow its economy through modernizing agriculture to accelerate productivity, resilience, and industrialization.
According to Dr Afriyie Akotio, he took the initiative to engage the World Bank to throw its support behind the project when he still was the Minister for Food and Agriculture.
“As we speak, only US$ 3 million has been disbursed to promote the objectives of the Tree Crop Development Authority. While the slow disbursement of the seed money was going on, I engaged the World Bank to see how best they can assist us. So, they saw my vision that this is something that can easily make Ghana a prosperous country if we just took care of that particular Authority.
So, the engagement went on and I am glad that only a few months that I left office, the World Bank itself has put up a statement that they are prepared to support the Authority with US$200 million. It is just a relief for me,” he noted.
Ghana on June 3, 2023, received approval of $200 million financing from the International Development Association (IDA) for the Ghana Tree Crop Diversification Project (TCDP).
“The World Bank is pleased to support Ghana’s medium-term national development strategy through the Ghana Tree Crop Diversification Project and directly contribute to the Government of Ghana’s priorities for economic and social development in the Coordinated Program of Economic and Social Development Policies, for inclusive, resilient, and sustainable economy,” said Pierre Laporte, World Bank Country Director for Ghana, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.
“The project will support private investments in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in cocoa, cashew, and coconut value chains and in cashew and coconut processing units,” he added.
According to the World Bank, while Ghana’s tree crops sector plays an enormous role in agriculture and the economy, the sector can contribute more substantially to Ghana’s economy and society than it currently does, including job creation, export revenue generation, and poverty reduction of the country’s poorest people.
Cocoa, cashew, coconut, and rubber segments employ some 728,000, 100,000, 10,364, and 4,322 farmers respectively.
Challenges said to be limiting the development of the sector include low and stagnant productivity, weak institutional capacity, poor sector governance, and poor climate resilience due to weak adoption of climate smart agriculture technologies and practices.
There is little value addition and weak coordination between actors of the tree crops value chains, the World Bank asserts, adding that “there is also lack of connectivity between farmers and improved inputs and services providers, and vulnerability to pests and diseases.”
The Government of Ghana intends to diversify and expand the economy by modernising
agriculture, accelerating industrialisation, and prioritising climate resilience and mitigation.
This will be done in line with the Investment for Food and Jobs (Medium-Term Development Plan, 2018–2021) and the ‘Ghana Beyond Aid’ reform agenda by implementing the Ghana Tree Crop Diversification Project (GTCDP) through the Tree Crops Development Authority (TCDA) and Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), collaborating with the World Bank.
The GTCDP, among others, will support the existing capacity of COCOBOD and strengthen the nascent organisational capacity of TCDA. It will provide optimal enabling environments through the legalisation and operationalisation of tree crop regulations and agribusiness policies.
It will also support and enable local farmers, traders, and processors to generate jobs
and profits from the production of the four selected tree crops, i.e., cocoa, cashew, rubber and coconut.