Ghana’s agriculture minister told GAFET’s August 11 Accra launch that government funding alone cannot fix the sector’s education gap, naming two coordinators to lead private-sector fundraising for the endowment.
Eric Opoku said the state has a duty to lead and protect the public interest but cannot fund every national challenge on its own. “Government must lead, but society must build,” he told an audience of development partners, financial institutions and college heads at the Palms By Eagle Hotel.
The ministry has designated Steven Nhyira Odarteifio and Kwesi Etu-Bonde to coordinate stakeholder engagement, partnerships and nationwide fundraising for the fund on its behalf, Opoku said, a formal appointment not previously disclosed in the fund’s public materials.
Opoku confirmed GH¢3.5 million in seed funding has already been mobilised from five agribusinesses — Grow For Me, AgriSolve, Farmerline, Newage Agric Solutions and Tradeline Consult — with a near-term goal of GH¢10 million by December 2026 and GH¢100 million by 2028. He said the money would sit in a dedicated custodian account, governed by an investment policy prioritising capital preservation, and overseen by a governing board, an independent fund administrator, a licensed fund manager and an external auditor.
The minister said government intends to eventually anchor GAFET as a permanent statutory institution through an Act of Parliament, a process he said would require broad stakeholder consultation and Cabinet approval before going to Parliament.
Opoku cast the fund as the human-capital pillar of the government’s Feed Ghana Programme, arguing that mechanisation, irrigation and financing investments will fail without skilled people to run them. He compared the national mobilisation he is seeking to the loyalty Ghanaians show their football teams, saying the same spirit should back those training to secure the country’s food supply.
