GHANA – The U.S. government has reaffirmed its commitment to assist Ghana improve food security, increase trade and investment flows, and support resilient and inclusive economic growth, through the launch of the U.S. Global Food Security Strategy for Ghana (GFSS) strategy.

The GFSS is a five-year, interagency effort that aims to increase agricultural productivity, improve nutrition, and raise household incomes for millions of Ghana’s agricultural workers.

The USA through USAID is committing US$19 million to support the initial activity of the initiative, known as Feed the Future Ghana “Mobilizing Finance in Agriculture” (MFA).

The MFA activity, which will run for four years, seeks to increase access to agricultural finance in select staple and commodity value chains such as maize, groundnuts, shea, soy, mango, cashew, and other high-value export commodities.

The initiative will focus on facilitating transactions among buyers and sellers of the commodity crops and promoting exports.

“The U.S. Government reaffirms its commitment to assist Ghanaians to achieve self-reliance by helping businesses reap higher revenues and by strengthening trade between Ghana and the United States.”

U.S. Ambassador to Ghana – Stephanie S. Sullivan

The MFA will mobilize investment for Ghana’s agricultural sector to become an engine of sustainable growth, self-reliance, and shared prosperity. 

It will work to connect financial institutions, business advisory service providers, and agricultural enterprises, providing access to strategic partnerships, technical support, and smart incentives to help financing flow to where it is most needed and help more Ghanaians thrive.

“The U.S. Government reaffirms its commitment to assist Ghanaians to achieve self-reliance by helping businesses reap higher revenues and by strengthening trade between Ghana and the United States.

“With the ability to access loans at lower affordable rates, micro, small, and medium agricultural enterprises, including women- and youth-owned businesses, will be able to grow their businesses, expand into new markets, create good jobs, and export their goods,” said U.S. Ambassador to Ghana Stephanie S. Sullivan.

According to the U.S. Embassy, the first activity is expected to attract US$261 million in private sector financing to boost Ghanaian agribusiness.

Overall GFSS will unlock more than US$300 million in investment and support businesses to increase their sales of, and to export, more than US$630 million in goods to help end chronic hunger and poverty in Ghana. 

In addition, the GFSS will help the Government of Ghana reduce the time and cost it takes to move goods securely across its borders, reinforcing the new Africa Continental Free Trade Area; potentially creating thousands of jobs; and forging partnerships with a wide variety of American firms. 

Some of these partnerships, include those with Ethical Apparel Africa, Root Capital, and John Deere, are already strengthening trade and investment ties between our two countries.

The implementation of the GFSS will benefit a broad range of people involved in agriculture, from women shea nut pickers and smallholder maize farmers, to the aggregators, processors, distributors, and buyers who help the wider market system function.

Liked this article? Subscribe to Food Business Africa News, our regular email newsletters with the latest news insights from Africa and the World’s food and agro industry. SUBSCRIBE HERE