FAO and Ghana to strengthen their collaboration

10 February 2020, Rome - FAO Director-General QU Dongyu met today with Owusu Afriyie Akoto, Ghana's Minister for Food and Agriculture.

The parties discussed Ghana’s agricultural sector and the Government’s push for economic growth through agriculture, particularly through its flagship programmes "Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ)" and "Planting for Export and Rural Development (PERD)" - both promoted by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.

The Minster shared with the Director General his country’s plans to convert six tree crops into cash crops, within the framework of the “Planting for Export and Rural Development (PERD)” programme. He noted that this initiative could fetch an annual export revenue of $12 billion.

The Minister acknowledged that his country’s agricultural sector has been improving but noted that more could be done to boost food production, and invited FAO to support Ghana’s efforts to become more self-sufficient and better meet its population’s needs.

The Director-General praised the Minister for his clarity of vision and work, and advised that FAO was ready to continue helping Ghana's farmers. He also stressed the need for supporting the country's value chain in its entirety.

Qu also presented to the Minister FAO’s Hand-in-Hand initiative.

In closing, the Director-General thanked the Minister for Ghana’s ongoing support of FAO and hosting of the UN agency’s regional office for Africa. The regional office (RAF), which covers 47 countries, is located in Accra since 1959.