Ghana in Focus: Business Opportunities in Ghana Part IV: Agriculture

When discussing investment opportunities in Africa, technology startups and mineral extraction often dominate the conversation. However, Ghana's agricultural sector represents one of the most promising yet underappreciated investment landscapes on the continent. With its fertile soil, favorable climate, and growing demand for high-quality agricultural products both locally and internationally, Ghana offers remarkable potential for investors willing to look beyond conventional sectors.

The agricultural landscape in Ghana benefits from naturally rich, fertile soil that supports a vast array of tropical crops. Unlike many regions that require extensive fertilization and soil treatment, Ghana's natural conditions create an ideal environment for organic farming practices. 

Cash crops represent the backbone of Ghana's agricultural export sector, with cocoa being the flagship commodity. Recent market trends have seen cocoa prices soar to record highs of around $8,000-11,000 per tonne, significantly higher than the $3,000-5,000 range seen just a few years ago. Beyond cocoa, Ghana's agricultural portfolio includes exceptionally sweet pineapples, mangoes, and oranges that command premium prices in international markets. Less obvious opportunities exist in crops like almonds, which thrive in Ghana's climate and currently fetch approximately $8,000-9,000 per tonne in global markets. Avocados (locally called pear) represent another high-potential crop, with the UK market alone spending approximately £2-3 billion annually on avocado imports, mostly sourced from countries like Mexico, Chile, and Israel.

The strategic advantage for investors lies not just in primary production but in agricultural processing and value addition. Taking raw agricultural products and transforming them into finished goods represents perhaps the greatest untapped potential in Ghana's agricultural sector. For instance, coconut—a simple tropical fruit—can be processed into more than 20 different products including coconut oil, moisturizer, shower gel, biscuits, cakes, and beverages. This diversification strategy allows investors to maximize returns from a single crop investment while building resilience against market fluctuations. 

Export opportunities add another dimension to agricultural investment in Ghana. With the right certification from Ghana's Export Promotion Authority, producers can access lucrative international markets hungry for tropical fruits and organic produce. 

It's worth noting that foreign investors have already recognized Ghana's agricultural potential. Indian and Chinese entrepreneurs have established substantial farming operations in Ghana.

Given the above the time is now ripe to invest in farming!!

Chapters

• 0:04 Introduction to Ghana in Focus
• 1:31 Agriculture as a Major Investment Opportunity
• 4:03 Profitable Cash Crops in Ghana
• 10:06 Maximizing Agricultural Profits
• 16:14 Agri-processing: Adding Value to Crops
• 21:27 Long-term Benefits and Next Episodes

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:04

Welcome to this week's edition of Ghana in Focus with myself, kwame, ghanaian writer, broadcaster, journalist, podcaster and entrepreneur. And in this week's edition of Ghana in Focus, we are continuing our series looking at our business and investment opportunities in Ghana that you can tap into. All right, so this week we'll be looking at agriculture, because that's one of the biggest ways in which you can make money in Ghana. All right, so before we get into the podcast, just to make you aware, if you like what you hear, please share it to your friends, family, social media networks. Subscribe to Ghana, africa and Folks on YouTube. We want to get at least 100 subscribers by the end of the year. So far we've got about 20, I believe. So please subscribe to Ghana, africa and Folks on YouTube. Also, we're on Spotify. Look out for Ghana, africa and Folks on Spotify. Click the follow bell, meaning that every time I upload a new podcast, spotify will notify you. We want to try and get about a thousand followers by the end of the year. So far, we're approaching 600 followers. So thank you to all those who are following me on spotify. Like I said, tell your family and friends and subscribe. All right, so let let's get into this week's podcast, part three for now, of our series looking at my business and investment opportunities in Ghana. So over the last few weeks, we've been telling you about potential business and investment opportunities there in Ghana. These are some that I've got myself. I'm into real estate. I've got land. I've got property that I'm renting right now. I've also got a farm in Ghana. I've also got some. I'm into real estate. I've got land. I've got property that I'm renting right now. I've also got a farm in Ghana. I've also got some bits and pieces as well. So I'm telling you things that I myself have invested in Ghana. Now, one of these is agriculture. You know agriculture people don't take it seriously on African content, but foreigners are doing so, and I'll get back into that in a minute. But agriculture, you content, but foreigners are doing so, and I'll get back into that in a minute. But agriculture, you know, farming is one of the biggest ways, uh, which you can make money, not just in ghana but any part of the africa content. Why? Because africa has fertile, rich soil. Ghana, you know, is no exception, and so ghana, you know you can grow exception, and so Ghana, you know you can grow anything in Ghana because the climate is as such and the soil is very, very rich and fertile that you can grow virtually anything pertaining to a tropical climate. Obviously, you can't grow grapes in Ghana or apples, because the climate is not conducive towards growing those kind of fruits, but, generally speaking, you can grow a lot of fruits and vegetables, amongst other things, in Ghana, and so farming, believe it or not, is where the next billionaires are going to come from. So it's not in AI, all this stuff about the fourth industrial revolution, etc. You know the next billionaires.

Speaker 1: 3:05

I'm going to confine culture. Why? Because people need to eat. It's as simple as that. Everyone eats. I'm sure you listen to me. You eat as well. You probably ate today. You probably ate about three or four meals today. So everyone eats, so meaning that food will never go out of supply. Yeah, there's always been a demand for food, and in Ghana, where we import a lot of food, if you're able to buy some land and use that to cultivate food crops here, you can make yourself a lot of money, and so I'm going to go into it a bit deeper, about the types of things you can grow in Ghana and also what you can do with your produce and also opportunities that there are to expand your produce or products into other areas. And so, like I said, you know you can grow, within reason, in a tropical climate, anything in Ghana. So let's deal with the main cash crops. So cash crops are cocoa you know cocoa is what Mr Chocolate and obviously you know cocoa now recently reached record record highs of about eleven thousand dollars. It's now going back to about eight, eight and a half thousand dollars a ton, which is much better, which is much better than when it was you know about three, four, better than when it was, you know, about three, four years ago, when it was about $3,000 to $5,000 a tonne. And so if you can grow cocoa, you know, particularly in Ghana, whereby our soil is rich and conducive towards cocoa production, again you can make a lot of money. So I'm just going to give some of the cash crops that I think you know you can benefit from if you decide to go into farming. So cocoa is obviously the one big one.

Speaker 1: 4:53

Pineapple yeah, our pineapples are very, very sweet, and so purple cultivation is something that is. You know there's a market there and it's something that you can benefit from. Oranges yeah, it's another great fruit you can tap into. Mangoes again, ghana's got some of the sweetest mangoes in the world. Mango production, or cultivation, is again something you can get into, even almonds.

Speaker 1: 5:23

A lot of Ghanaians are not aware about this, but almonds growing of. Guineans are not aware about this, but almonds, you know, growing of almonds, yeah, is very, very good for Ghana's climate. So you know, for example, in America, I love the almonds growing in California, you know, where it's very sunny, which is a temperate climate, not as hot as Ghana, but you know it's conducive. The climate in California is conducive towards growing almonds. So in Ghana check this now, if we're to grow almonds in Ghana, particularly where our soil is more rich and fertile than California right, you can make a lot of money and I think almond is going for something like about eight, nine thousand dollars. You know a ton, showing you that there's demand for almonds. And, aside from that, almonds is also very nutritionally good for you, good source of protein, good source of vitamins, minerals and nutrients.

Speaker 1: 6:13

Okay, another cash crop they can go into is pear, or, as we say, or pear is what we say in Ghana, but it's generally known in the western hemisphere as avocado. There's a massive demand for avocado and I noticed that in the UK, something like about £2-3 billion was spent last year on buying avocado. A lot of the avocados in the UK come from places like Israel, chile, those places, mexico, those places. But again, like you know those places, yeah, mexico, you know those places, yeah, but, again, like I said, our soil is rich, yeah, and if you've ever eaten a pear of a kind from Ghana, you know how creamy, textured and rich it is. So, again, that's another cash crop.

Speaker 1: 7:00

What else is there? Vegetables, yeah, vegetables. Spinach, you know, onions, tomatoes. These are all cash crops which you can grow that will, a give you a market to sell your products, b you know, uh, generate profit for you and c will be it will be able to sustain, you know, development of those products throughout the year.

Speaker 1: 7:31

So these are just some of the key cash crops that I recommend that you know you grow if you get a parcel of land or a couple parcel of land or three parcel of land. Because if you buy, for example, a parcel of land or a couple parcel of land or three parcels of land, because if you buy, for example, four acres of land, you can you can donate one acre just to grow oranges. You can donate another acre to grow power pools. You can have another acre to grow mangoes. You can have another acre to grow, you know, spinach. So you giving yourself, you're not putting all your acres in one basket, but you are diversifying your crop range in order to maximise, you know, the levels of, you know, income that you are getting and also maximise the levels of return that you are getting for your investment. And so, when we look at things, for example, like pineapple, like I said, cocoa, pineapple, oranges, mangoes, generate between 10 and 25 percent return on investment, yeah, given the fact that these are high in demand. And even almonds, like I said, almonds, you know, goes for between eight and ten thousand euro dollars and a ton, yeah, making these kind of uh crops very, very appealing, appealing towards, you know, cultivation and growing.

Speaker 1: 8:59

Now again, another um, fruit, yeah, fruit, that is again something you can grow and invest in is coconut. Coconut is a massive demand, particularly our coconut in africa, because you know coconut is used to make a lot of things. You can make coconut biscuits yeah, believe it or not. You can make coconut cake yeah. You can make coconut ice cream yeah. You can make, obviously, coconut juice. You can make coconut, you know, moisturiser.

Speaker 1: 9:31

So even coconut alone has many, many by-products that you can tap into, should you, you know, want to invest in, you know, coconuts, or grow your own coconuts, so let's take, you know. So let's now get into. So I've told you about some of the cash crops that I think are very, very profitable. Let's get into some areas whereby you can maximise your cash crops. So I mentioned coconuts. Yeah, there are many uses of coconut there which can guarantee you a broad, diverse portfolio within the coconut product alone. Yeah, so, like I mentioned, there's more than 20 products that can come out of coconut alone.

Speaker 1: 10:14

So if you decide to just grow coconut, yeah, and you go into agri-processing because, again, that's another dimension of farming, so but I'll come into that in a minute so, so coconut has got many, many uses that you can make a lot of profit from and diversify your portfolio in terms of agriculture, okay. Or you can buy your land, like I said, grow some plots of it and just be an exporter. So you can get an export license from the Ghana Export Promotion Company. That's the company responsible for export licenses in Ghana. So another option for you is to get your parts of land and grow, for example, pineapple. Right is to get your part of land and grow, for example, pineapple, right, and then get your export license and be exporter of pineapples yeah, that will bring in a lot of income for you. So that's one way.

Speaker 1: 11:11

Two, you can grow your food, yeah, and then sell it to the market. So you know, and when we're talking about growing food right, I'm talking about organic food, I'm not talking about food using, you know, I'm not talking about crops grown using pesticides and germos and that kind of. I'm talking about ag, organic, yeah. And again, organic produce right is very sort of, is sort of is very, very in demand, particularly, you know, in Western markets. So, again, if you grow organic food, organic vegetables, fruits, right, you can generate a good market and generate a good income. So, like I said, you can export, yeah, one, you know, of your products, that you decide to grow, your products, that you decide to grow. Two, if you grow your products, for example, if you grow oranges, yeah, you can sell that in the numerous supermarkets and malls that have sprung up, particularly in Accra, over the last five to ten years. So, because of the right to return, yield return and beyond return, there are many, many Africans from the continent now living in ghana, yeah, so, so they want to experience, you know, fresh juice. So, if you can, you know. Or eating organic, you know, vegetable fruit and vegetables, particularly so if you can grow oranges, bananas, those kind of things, right, and then sell it to supermarkets yeah, again, that can diversify your portfolio range.

Speaker 1: 12:39

When it comes to you know, agriculture, again, you can grow another crop like mangoes, yeah, and then be a supplier to companies who produce mango juice and its derivatives. So, again, that's another way of generating income by being a supplier to companies that manufacture fruits, that manufacture fruit and take them into juices and that kind of thing. And I'll give you an example there's a chap in Ghana called Anthony Piles. He's the founder of Blue Skies. Yeah, so Blue Skies is basically the most successful pineapple juice company in Ghana. Yeah, and this man has got a massive pineapple plantation outside of Krab, a place called Insawam, and he grows a lot of pineapple. Yeah, but because he's got a massive market in Ghana that's, outside of Ghana he's also buying pineapple for other supplies, yeah, so this butchers to the point that I'm making that if you can grow certain key crops pineapple, mangas, oranges, white you can supply. You know producers like Blue Skies, ante and Powers White, who are mass producers of. You can supply producers like Blue Skies, ante and Powers white, who are mass producers of, plant producers and what have you. So that's another area that you could tap into being a supplier of fruit and vegetables or other commodities for people that make products, for people that make products.

Speaker 1: 14:17

Now we look at coconut. Yeah, so, like I mentioned, coconut has many, many uses, right, and there's a demand for coconut, particularly, you know, in the West, because coconut, through research, right, the West now sees coconut as a very, very healthy product. I mean, in Africa, we know this. You know, for example, coconut juice is very, very good for dehydration and also a lot of vitamins, minerals and nutrients that the body needs to replenish. You know, uh, you know things like you know to help things like you know, um, the food radicals that can help, you know, detoxify the body and so, and also the foods from coconut. You know, the white food that you get in coconut is also very, very healthy for you as well. So coconut has become, you know, a fruit is a fruit. They've become a very popular fruit in the west in the last few years and you've got companies who are, you know, exporting coconut juices and products to the likes of Germany, uk, european Union, etc. So again, if I was you, I would seriously look at harnessing coconut and particularly some of the products I've mentioned, like shower gel, like moisturisers, like biscuit, like juices, like cake, etc. Yeah, where you can maximize and diversify your portfolio within that range.

Speaker 1: 15:47

Now, aside from being supplier, aside from being a producer, apart from selling it to shops and supermarkets and what have you right, you can also make your own juices. So this is part of what we call, this is part of the agriculture sector that we call agriculture processing. So you got your land or you can buy land, right, and then you can say, for example, you buy, you buy or whatever you grow, for example, oranges. This is just example. You've got oranges here. You can get a blender to start off with white and make your own orange juice and say it to the market. Yeah, so you can grow your oranges. Yeah, whether it's 10 000 oranges or whatever you grow right, 5 000, you grow within the season. You can then agro process that into juices by like, by getting a blender or by getting a big um juicer where you can process your own juice. Yeah, and, you know, sell it that way ain't to supermarkets, to shops, to restaurants, and even you could export some out of Ghana, because agri-processing is also another untapped industry in Ghana, as part of our culture, where people can make money with.

Speaker 1: 17:11

Traditionally, people have gone into farming right, but to produce the raw material, not really add value to it. Now, you know, some Ghanaian farmers are beginning to add value to their cash crops by, you know, making coconut biscuits in terms of coconut, in terms of plantain, making plantain chips in terms of cassava, making cassava chips, in terms of oranges, making orange juice, et cetera, et cetera. So, again, if you cultivate land for, say, fruit production, yeah, you can then diversify this by going into agro-processing, whereby you can make, you know, an array of juices. So you've got pineapple and ginger juice, which is very popular in Ghana. You've got orange juice. You've got pineapple juice on its own. You've got pineapple and ginger juice, which is very popular in Ghana. You've got orange juice. You've got pineapple juice on its own. You've got mango juice. You've got guava juice. You've got sugar melon juice Sorry, watermelon juice, you know. You've got sugar cane juice. All these juices are very, very healthy, yeah.

Speaker 1: 18:09

And if you were to grow these products right and then convert them from the raw material to finished products like juices again, you can make a lot of money by, a exporting those juices out of Ghana, b selling those juices to the supermarkets or restaurants and you know those kind of things or, c, you know, you can, you know, sell them to third-party companies. You know, like some of the big supermarkets like we have in Ghana and some of the also the big restaurants as well that we have in Ghana, particularly Accra, that will buy, you know, your produce from you at a competitive rate. So agriculture is definitely, definitely, you know, an investment worth making because it's a long, long, it's not a short term thing, it's a medium, long term investment development when it comes to agriculture, because I think it takes about three or four years to grow, you know pineapples uh, the same for coconut as well. I think oranges grow within one year, you know. So you know agriculture, you know, is not a short-term. You know, get quick rich. You know scheme, it does take time to grow, these cash reserves mentioned, but, but, but the profit margins are huge.

Speaker 1: 19:29

Like I said, you know, look at things like cocoa now, cocoa, which is, which is the, the, the main price of chocolate? Yeah, it's between 8 000 and about 9 000, uh, us dollars a ton. Yeah, so just imagine, in the season, right, you can produce about four or five tons, yeah, and listen to other things that you're making, so that's about forty thousand dollars, you know, within the cocoa season, that you can produce from if you're to invest in cocoa. So I hope this you know, brief uh um podcast about opportunity within agriculture has given you three for four and also given you some an array of opportunities that exist in the agriculture setting, whether it's just, you know, being a producer, a supplier, or even, you know, converting those finished goods into sorry, converting those raw materials like oranges into finished goods like orange juices, juices. So, you know, hopefully these will give you some ideas as to, uh, how to invest in agriculture and to some of the opportunities that lie within the field of agriculture and agriculture processing, because, like I said, ghana has very, very rich, fertile soil and, uh, you know, a lot of good quality food, organic food, vegetables as well.

Speaker 1: 20:52

I even did a touch of vegetables, you know. So, vegetables like spinach, tomatoes you know ghana is important a lot of spinach, a lot of tomatoes, of onions. So, again, you know, if you, you know, and particularly tomatoes, because tomato, if they play in gh, ghana, tomatoes used to make everything in Ghana our giraffe rice, our stews, our soups. Tomato is a very key ingredient. So, again, if you can produce organic tomatoes, you definitely get a massive market for Ghana as well. And also, in terms of tomato, there's agro-persistent by-products. So, for example, you know, tomato paste, yeah, the like the tinned tomatoes kind of thing. That, again, you know, is something that can generate a lot of income because tomato paste in particular is again is used in a lot of um, you know, dishes in Ghana from jofff rice, red red soups, in corn soup, etc. So tomato will be a very, very profitable, worthwhile fruit to grow in Ghana.

Speaker 1: 22:00

And when we talk about our culture, yeah, you know a lot of non-Africans, indians and Chinese. They've not got farms in Ghana. Yeah, if you think I'm lying, why is it that you know a lot of the yam plantain, cocoa yam that come to the UK is actually from Indian farmers In Indians who have bought farms in Ghana. That's where that thing's coming from and that's why you know they can sell our own food cheaper to us than we can Because they've got their farms, you know, in Ghana or Nigeria or even Jamaica Because I said even Jamaica. You know the Indians have got farms in Jamaica whereby they are growing koko yam dashin, you know, green banana, etc. Yeah, and importing that to places like Canada, the US, uk, yeah. So that shows you why that other non-Africans have tapped into the food market or agriculture because there's a lot of money to be made. They recognise that. So this is why I'm imploring you listeners to consider agriculture as a viable option, business and investment opportunity, because, like I said, if others are making money from it, why can't we, as Africans, make money from our own food?

Speaker 1: 23:26

So I hope you've enjoyed this week's edition of Ghanaian Focus with myself, kwame, ghanaian writer, broadcaster and entrepreneur. In next week's edition, we're going to talk about a lot of the comments in the next few weeks how to save money in this life-threatening crisis, you know, how to live within your means, how to start a saving culture. We'll be looking at those kind of issues in the next few weeks. So we'll be looking for now no more investment opportunities, but probably later on in the year, probably in the fall or in autumn, we'll be looking at some more business and investment opportunities you can tap into in Ghana. Alright, so from myself, kwame, and for the crew here on Ghana In Focus, don't forget to subscribe. Like the show on YouTube. Subscribe to Ghana African In Focus on YouTube, subscribe to Ghana African In Focus on Spotify and also let us have your comments.

Speaker 1: 24:23

Let us know what you think about the show. Let us have your comments. Let us know what you think about agriculture in Ghana. Would you invest about agriculture in Ghana? Would you invest in agriculture? Do you see agriculture as a viable business investment opportunity? Do you think it's something that you can get a good return on your investment? So I'd like to hear from you. So, particularly if you follow me on Spotify and YouTube, let's have your comments. Yeah, let us know what you think. All right, so next week, where we have some more great content coming up for you, it's from myself and Kwame and from all the crew here on Ghana In Focus. Thank you very much for listening and we'll see you next week for some more Ghana In Focus.