|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The government has mapped around 515,000 hectares of land currently used for rice cultivation, using advanced satellite technology, in a move to attract investment and fast-track Ghana’s goal of rice self-sufficiency.
Speaking at the West Africa Rice Investment Roundtable in Accra on June 2, 2026, Minister of Food and Agriculture, Eric Opoku, said the initiative provides investors with accurate data to reduce uncertainty in agricultural ventures.
“The government has commissioned cutting-edge geospatial mapping to identify, delineate, and characterize rice-suitable lands nationwide,” Mr. Opoku explained. The mapping is also helping to organize production areas into clusters and assess water availability and irrigation potential.
The Minister revealed that preliminary findings indicate about 515,000 hectares are already under rice cultivation across rain-fed lowlands, irrigated lowlands, and inland valley systems.
For investors, the exercise offers “unprecedented visibility into opportunities within the rice value chain,” he said. “We are no longer offering vague potential. We are offering verified, location-specific investment opportunities.”
By providing precise data on land location, ecological characteristics, and productivity gaps, the initiative allows investors and financial institutions to make informed decisions while mitigating risks often associated with agricultural financing.
Moreover, the satellite infrastructure will enable authorities to monitor crop development and estimate seasonal yields, enhancing transparency and accountability in the sector.
“This capacity to track performance season by season gives investors and financiers something rarely seen in smallholder agriculture — transparency and a credible basis for evaluating results,” Mr. Opoku noted.
He described the project as a critical step toward making Ghana’s national rice expansion programme more attractive to private capital, underlining the government’s strategy to reduce rice imports and strengthen domestic production.
“This is how we make a national rice expansion programme bankable,” he concluded.
Story by Efua Nessa