Ghana’s agriculture sector generates more than a fifth of the economy, yet only about 2 percent of the country’s tertiary students study agricultural programmes, a gap the government is now trying to close with a new national endowment fund.
The Ministry of Food and Agriculture launched the Ghana Agricultural Fund for Education and Transformation (GAFET) on August 11 in Accra, aiming to raise GH¢100 million by December 2028 to finance training, research and infrastructure at agricultural colleges and universities. Agricultural education institutions currently face an annual funding shortfall of roughly GH¢12 million, according to the fund’s organisers.
Agriculture Minister Eric Opoku, who launched GAFET at a ceremony attended by agribusiness leaders, financial institutions and traditional authorities, framed the initiative as the human-capital arm of the government’s Feed Ghana Programme. “Before we can sustainably feed Ghana, we must equip Ghana,” he said.
Five agribusinesses have put up GH¢3.5 million in seed capital: AgriSolve, led by chief executive Elorm Goh; Grow For Me, led by Nana Opoku Agyeman; New Age Agric Solutions, led by general manager Martin Tettey Nartey; Tradeline Consult, led by Samuel Atiemo; and Farmerline, which is contributing both capital and access to its technology platform. Grow For Me has also agreed to open its crowdfunding platform to support the fund.
Organisers want to grow the fund to GH¢10 million by December this year before it converts into a full endowment in the fourth quarter, complete with a governing board, an independent fund administrator and a licensed fund manager. Government plans eventually to anchor GAFET in law through an Act of Parliament.
GAFET will initially back 21 institutions, including five standalone agricultural colleges and 16 universities and technical universities. Opoku said recent government funding increases to agricultural colleges, from GH¢35,000 to GH¢100,000 per institution, had already helped lift enrolment by 35 percent.
Deputy Agriculture Minister John Setor Dumelo attended the launch alongside Opoku. GAFET’s lead coordinator, Steven Nhyira Odarteifio, and its secretariat technical lead, Seyram Kofori-Ndinya, said governance safeguards would be central to sustaining donor confidence in the fund over the long term.
