Ghana Agriculture and Fishing Overview

Agriculture and fishing

More than half of Ghana’s population is dependent on agriculture, which accounts for just over one-fifth of gross domestic product (GDP). Most of the farmers grow their crops on small private farms, but there are also many large plantations. Agriculture is heavily dependent on how the rain falls, as only a negligible share of the country’s arable land is irrigated.

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More than half of Ghana’s area is cultivable, but just under a fifth is used today for cultivation. Cocoa is by far the most important crop and occupies more than half of the cultivated land. Cocoa is also the third most important export product after oil and gold. Other commercial crops are coconuts and coffee, as well as various fruits, nuts and vegetables.

Ghana was the world’s largest cocoa producer in the early 1960s, but then production fell sharply. A recovery began in the 1990s and production accelerated after the turn of the millennium. Since 2006, Ghana is the world’s second largest cocoa producer, after the Ivory Coast, contributing one-fifth of the world’s cocoa harvest. Favorable weather was on its way, but the success was also due to increased state cocoa prices to growers, increased use of pesticides and better routes for transport. For Ghana defense and foreign policy, please check prozipcodes.

The cocoa crops are mainly found in southern Ghana while a large part of the food crops, such as cassava, jams, food bananas and maize, are grown in the north, where the rain is scarce and irregular.

Livestock management occurs mainly in the north, but meat production is too small to meet the country’s needs. Fishing covers just over three quarters of domestic demand. In addition, fish are imported. It is fished both off the coast and in rivers and lakes. Most important economically is coastal fishing.

Southwestern Ghana is covered with forest. The forest industry expanded greatly during the 2000s and timber is now a major export product. The rapid harvesting rate poses a threat to the forest stock, and new planting does not occur to the same extent as harvesting. Like most African countries, Ghana is plagued by land degradation caused by overgrazing and deforestation. In 2009, Ghana, as the first country, entered into a voluntary agreement with the EU to export only timber harvested legally.

FACTS – AGRICULTURE

Agriculture’s share of GDP

19.7 percent (2017)

Percentage of land used for agriculture

69.0 percent (2016)

2013

August

The election result is approved

The Supreme Court rejects NPP’s appeal of the outcome of the December 2012 presidential election. NPP’s Akufo-Addo candidate accepts the court’s ruling.

June

The goals of the ministers should be evaluated

President Mahama orders all ministers to give a written account of what they want to achieve during their terms of office, and how and when they intend to implement these goals. By regularly monitoring the work of the ministers, the president must decide whether the ministers should be allowed to continue in the government.

March

Boycott is canceled

The NPP is suspending its boycott of Parliament’s work, even though the Supreme Court’s ruling on alleged electoral fraud has not yet been announced.

High-tech city will be built

President Mahama announces plans to build an IT center, called Hope City, outside the capital, Accra. The new high-tech city is intended to contain both an IT university and a residential area for 25,000 people. Most will be accommodated in six skyscrapers, of which one should have 75 floors and be 270 meters high. About 50,000 jobs will be created, according to the president, who says that the private business will lead the project.

January

New government appointed

President Mahama presents his new government.

NPP boycott the work in Parliament

Mahama officially takes office as President on January 7, despite the Supreme Court still considering NPP’s appeal of the election results. NPP boycott the ceremony, but NPP President John Kufuor participates in the will of his party comrades. The NPP decides to boycott the work in Parliament until the Supreme Court makes its ruling, which can take six months.

Ghana Agriculture and Fishing