Ghana’s Minister of Food and Agriculture, Eric Opoku, has launched the Ghana Agriculture Fund for Education and Transformation, known as GAFET, to support the government’s agricultural transformation agenda.
The fund is intended to build a sustainable national endowment for skills development, innovation, mechanisation and agricultural enterprise. It will also invest in institutions training agricultural engineers, researchers, agribusiness leaders and entrepreneurs.
Speaking at the launch in Accra, Mr Opoku said agricultural transformation required more than investment in machinery, irrigation and financing.
“Before we can sustainably feed Ghana, we must equip Ghana. Before we transform our farms, we must strengthen the institutions that prepare the people who transform those farms,” he said.
He said GAFET formed a human capital pillar of the government’s Feed Ghana Programme, which aims to increase food production, modernise farming, expand irrigation and mechanisation, promote agro-processing, reduce dependence on food imports, boost exports and create jobs.
Mr Opoku said agricultural colleges, universities, technical institutions, research centres and training facilities needed renewed investment in laboratories, workshops, demonstration farms, machinery, digital learning tools, research and industry-responsive curricula.
The minister said the initiative would create a platform for the private sector, development partners, financial institutions, philanthropic organisations, alumni associations and individuals to contribute to agricultural education and capacity development.
An initial GH¢3.5 million has been mobilised by five agribusinesses: Grow For Me, Agrisol, Thermaline, New Age AgriSolutions and Trade Line Consort.
The immediate target is to grow the fund to GH¢10 million by December 2026 and GH¢100 million by December 2028.
GAFET will operate under a governance framework comprising a governing board, an independent fund administrator, a licensed fund manager, a custodian bank and an independent external auditor.
Its co-coordinator, Steven Nhyira Odarteifio, said the fund would support 21 beneficiary institutions through investment in laboratories, workshops, demonstration farms, modern machinery, research, digital learning tools, scholarships, internships and industrial attachments.
