Policy think tank IMANI Africa has lauded Channel One TV’s AgriFair as a timely and transformative platform that redefined the national conversation on agriculture, pushing the sector beyond its traditional image as a rural safety net to a core driver of Ghana’s economic growth.
In an assessment of the just-ended event, IMANI described the AgriFair as a major turning point, noting that the discussions at the three-day event “reflected a shift to full value chain thinking”—a comprehensive approach that links production with processing, financing, marketing, and export.
“The Channel One AgriFair was right in framing the issue holistically, from input supply and research through processing, marketing, and exports,” the think tank noted.
It added: “That’s the thinking Ghana needs if the sector is to become both commercially viable and socially transformative.”
Held at the Efua Sutherland Park in Accra, the AgriFair brought together farmers, agribusinesses, policymakers, financial institutions, and development partners to engage on urgent issues confronting the sector. Key areas of focus included mechanisation, access to inputs, post-harvest losses, agro-processing, value addition, and improved market access.
IMANI observed that the conversations at AgriFair helped expose the structural weaknesses holding back the sector—including underinvestment, weak extension systems, and poor access to finance.
“Agriculture receives less than 5% of credit from the formal banking sector and under 2% of foreign direct investment,” it pointed out. “This is despite the sector’s centrality to GDP and employment. The problem is not lack of potential, but lack of prioritisation.”
The think tank called for the AgriFair’s ideas to be mainstreamed into national policy. It stressed the need for coordinated budget allocations, cross-ministerial action, and institutional support to scale up agro-industrial ecosystems.
“The ideas shared at the AgriFair must not remain on event panels. They must shape future agricultural policy and financing,” IMANI urged.
With climate change, food inflation, and youth unemployment mounting pressure on Ghana’s economy, IMANI believes rethinking agriculture as a pillar of inclusive growth and industrialisation is not just ideal, but urgent.
“The AgriFair was not just an exhibition. It was a statement of intent,” IMANI maintained, adding “now, Ghana must follow through.”
