Welcome to the Official Website of the Ministry of Food & Agriculture, Ghana. West Africa.

The World Bank’s Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) articulates our strategy for support to the agricultural sector over the period 2008 – 2011 and is anchored in the Ghana Joint Assistance Strategy (G-JAS). (The G-JAS is the coordinated strategy to which 16 bilateral and multilateral development partners [DPs] have committed themselves over this period.) CAS objectives are (i) to sustain economic growth at 6% or more; (ii) to surpass the MDG of having poverty during the CAS period; and (iii) to reduce inequalities. Agriculture plays a key role in all three objectives.

World Bank support to sustainable agricultural growth will utilize a range of instruments::

• The agriculture development policy operation (agDPO) provides budget support in support of a defined set of policy reforms essential for the implementation of the sector strategy FASDEP. The first agDPO 1 for $25m was approved in 2008; agDPO 2 proposes a similar amount and is scheduled for approval in July 2009. The third and final in the series is programmed for 2010.
• The West Africa Agricultural Productivity Project (WAAPP) promotes regional cooperation in agricultural technology generation and dissemination and joins Ghana (with a national focus on roots and tubers) with Mali (rice) and Senegal (cereals).
• The Land Administration Project (LAP) seeks to improve land tenure security, simplifying the process of accessing land and fostering prudent land management.
• The Community Based Rural Development Project (CBRDP) supports improved planning and management practices of local authorities and resident communities.

• A West Africa Regional Fisheries Projects, in which Ghana is one of 12 participating countries, seeks to increase overall wealth generated from marine fisheries resources.
• A Productive Safety Nets operation focused in the North of Ghana aims to reduce vulnerability and protect key household assets.
• A Water Resource Management and Irrigation operation also focused on flood-prone areas in the North of Ghana will support improved water resource management, sustainable land management, and flood control and irrigation infrastructure for commercial farming.

The priority issues for the World Bank are:

• Most urgently, rapid finalization of the agDPO 2 program document including an assessment of the progress against sector objectives and specific prior actions, in the context of the joint MoFA-DP sector review planned for April.
• Moving forward with the preparation of the other pipeline operations, given the hiatus during the transition period.
• MoFA’s follow up to the public expenditure and institutional review which identified a number of areas in which MoFA could benefit from improved functionality.
• Progress in improved budgeting and planning, including agreeing a definition of agriculture sector expenditure in order to monitor the Maputo Commitment (as per Government’s MDBS commitments).