A major collaboration between the government and private investors is set to drive a large-scale expansion in cocoa farming, with more than 10,000 hectares earmarked for cultivation.

The initiative is part of broader efforts to stimulate economic activity and increase Ghana’s competitiveness in the global cocoa industry.

Minister for Food and Agriculture, Dr. Eric Opoku, shared details of the plan at a press briefing ahead of the Feed Ghana Project's official launch on April 11.

He stressed that government would play a key oversight role to ensure the program leads to real benefits such as jobs, export growth, and value-added production.

“We are even bringing in some investors, they’re partnering Ghanaians to go into 10,000 hectares of cocoa production and they have assured that they will establish processing plant to add value before they export. So we are in touch with the private sector in the production as well as the marketing,” he said.

The announcement comes amid a troubling decline in Ghana’s cocoa sector. In the last quarter of 2024, the industry shrank by 21.4%, continuing a six-quarter trend of negative growth. Earlier in the year, output also fell sharply by 26% in both the second and third quarters.

To address broader challenges in agriculture, Dr. Opoku highlighted additional steps being taken, including new partnerships to improve market access for tomato farmers.

“In the short term what we have done is that we have had discussions with some tomato factories in Tema to connect to the farmers and provide ready market for them by deploying mini processing plants to the farmers in the hinterland,” he added.

These actions form part of a wider strategy to revitalize agribusiness and attract more private investment into Ghana’s food production value chain.