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

In Ghana, agriculture remains the pre-dominant sector for achieving poverty alleviation and economic development. The sector is divided into two segments: one largely informal and subsistent; the other formal and export oriented.  Development in each, in our opinion, requires different policy approaches.  In the former, policies related to poverty reduction and food security are important, while in the latter policies related to commercialization are paramount.  Whatever the segment, however, strong inter-sectoral linkages need to be developed, which help to coordinate and harmonize approaches to rural, agricultural and economic development. Agricultural development is not solely the mandate of MoFA alone: it also has to relate to other ministries as well as to the private sector.  It is our belief, however, that MoFA must be the key driver to achieve this coordination.
The Agricultural sector has a long history of support from Development Partners.  Presently 11 OECD-DAC members are engaged in the Agriculture Sector Group.  According to this year's budget, donor's provide about GhC 100m of a total MoFA budget of GhC 202m.  But not all DP funds flow through the GoG finance management systems or are reflected in MoFA’s budget; although they contribute to the development of the sector. However, there are issues of correctly reflecting DP contributions to the sector and also defining what constitutes the agric sector budget.
In addition to the DAC donors, a number of development partners from philanthropic foundations or other NGOs have joined the Sector Group.  Also, there has been increasing interest from the private sector to invest in food production and processing in Ghana as well as in agro-fuels and other raw materials.
Modalities of support however are changing on the basis of the Paris Declaration of aid effectiveness and the Accra Agenda for Action for its implementation. DPs and government have developed a model for dialog and interaction which has not been fully adopted in the agricultural sector. The DPs are committed to adjusting their aid to the challenges of new dialog structures and new modalities of aid delivery.

DIALOGUE STRUCTURE

• MDBS consultations and negotiations at the level of MOFEP and the MDBS core group based on previous consultation at the sector level and respective inputs.
• Quarterly MoFA – DP meetings, led by the Minister with a wider participation of Directors and other stakeholders. These meetings have in the last year been irregular.
• Monthly meetings of the DPs Agriculture Sector Group, previously chaired by rotating DP representatives. MoFEP Sector Group Guidelines require that sector lead ministries would co-chair these groups. Up to now, MoFA has not nominated a co-chair.
• Three thematic MoFA – DP groups chaired by a MoFA Director for: (a) policy, Sector Wide Approach (SWAp) and Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) issues; (b) human resource, development & management; and (c) public finance administration. These groups have met irregularly on demand mandated by the dynamics of the issues at stake.

Apart from the above joint engagements there are exchanges and dialogues between the individual DPs (or their agents) and MoFA on a broad variety of issues from policy to implementation issues and administrative requirements of individual DPs and their project implementation arrangements. These intensive exchanges are crucial for harmonised and effective DP contributions to the government’s development efforts.

       ISSUES

• The ministry has with great effort and wide stakeholder participation developed a new FASDEP II. Most donor support is now aligned to this new policy framework. We support these documents and seek advice on the government’s position to this document.
• A sector plan to guide implementation of FASDEP is being prepared, which is an opportunity to provide direction for refinement and improvement along the thrust of the new government’s policies. 
• An important step in the ongoing dialog has been the annual Joint Sector Review (JSR).  The JSR, first conducted in 2008, resulted in a number of recommendations and lessons to be explored. The preparation of an action plan to deal with the recommendations of the and also the Public Expenditure and Institutional Review (PEIR) is still outstanding. 
• The PEIR pointed to a number of serious organisational deficiencies in the Ministry; a lack of systematic intra-ministerial communication especially between technical staff and their leadership. We believe that this indeed warrants utmost attention.

We strongly believe that rural and agricultural development needs a strong MoFA with qualified, dedicated and well guided staff. We would like to express the DP’s commitment and support to Ghana’s and the Ministry’s development.

WB: Worldbank
AfDB: African Development Bank
IFAD: International Fund for agricultural development
IFPRI: International Food Policy Research Institutue
FAO: Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN
WFP: World Food Programme
AGRA: Agency for green revolution in Africa ??
EMBRAPA
JICA
CIDA
GDC: German Development Cooperation: GTZ; KfW; DED
USAID: United states agency for international development
France –AFD: agence francais de development
WASA: West African seed alliance
MCC: Millenium Challenge corporation
DFID: department for international development of the UK
EC: European commission