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Description

Production

Investment opportunities exist for producers and processing companies in the following areas:

• Companies to process maize, yams, cassava, oil palm, citrus, mango, cashew, coconut, cowpea and traditional vegetables e.g. tomatoes, pepper
• Production of value-added cocoa and coffee products
• Production of improved seeds and agro-chemicals (fertilizers, pesticides, weedicides)
• Processing of dairy products
• Production of inputs such as fertilizers, pesticides, and fungicides 

 

Raw Materials

• Processors and manufacturers to supply packaging materials
• Producers to supply planting materials
• Production of horticultural products for processing (e.g. maize, yams, cassava, oil palm, citrus, mango, cashew, coconut, cowpea and traditional vegetables e.g. tomatoes, pepper etc.) for national, regional and European Union (E.U) markets
• Development of private irrigation facilities 

 

Technological and Supporting Services

• Processing machine manufacturers to supply cold chain equipment
• Companies to provide installation of cold chain equipment
• Companies to train manufacturers in packaging and packaging technology
• Companies to train producers in the use of food processing technology
• Machine manufacturers to establish hatcheries for day-old chicks
• Processing machine manufacturers to supply processing plants
• Suppliers and financiers of factory building technology.

 

Marketing and Distribution

• Companies to provide post-production services (transport, packaging, cold vans)
• Companies to provide distribution of improved seeds, planting materials and agro-chemicals (fertilizers, pesticides, weedicides)
• Companies to market processed foods in international markets

 

The Market Potential

Agro-food Processing

Ghana has a wide range of agro-products that are currently exported in their raw state. Opportunities therefore exist in the agro-food processing sector for manufacturing industries to add value to local agricultural products e.g. cocoa, cashew, tropical fruits and vegetables. With the emphasis shifting from raw exports to processed exports, the investment opportunities are endless.

Guinness Ghana Limited and Accra Brewery Limited have introduced cassava beer into the Ghanaian market which is currently doing very well. . The introduction of the beer has provided ready market to cassava farmers. This is partly responsible for the general increase in the area put under cassava production. So far, a total of 4,741mt have been purchased, with Guinness Ghana Limited buying over 74 per cent and Accra Breweries Limited buying the rest.

Brazil Agro Business Ltd, PVL, GADCO, Aveyime, Afife/ Weta, ICOUR, are also large scale rice commercial farms operating under irrigation. Their milled and branded packaged rice are sold everywhere on the Ghanaian market. These farms are contributing immensely to the increased rice production and consumption in Ghana. 

 

Seafood Processing

The seafood processing sub-sector is emerging as one of the attractive sectors for investment. The free zone can currently boast of one of the major fish processing firms in West Africa, processing about 170 tons of seafood (tuna) a day. There is, in fact, a large volume of tuna, available all year round in the coastal water of Ghana. The processing of tuna and many other marine species therefore presents a great opportunity to any investor interested in seafood processing. 

 

Table 1: Ghana’s exports of some prepared or processed foods– 2014

  

Product	Weight (Kgs)	Value (US $)
Cocoa Paste	170,096,360	568,820,471
Cocoa Powder	27,543,179	64,040,806
Cocoa Shells, Husks	21,199,234	12,208,875
Cocoa Confectionery	1,415,423	4,763,639
Chocolate	50,977	128,924
Cocoa Butter	2,860	34,463
Dairy Products
Milk&Cream	2,431,354	13,873,683
Butter,Cheese Etc	370,045	195,144
Yogurt:	30	12
Prepared Foods
Canned Tuna	24,090,904	151,812,675
Cut Fruits	6,373,739	50,188,806
Baby Food	4,348,967	24,147,316
Coffee Prepared	3,235,277	13,172,758
Groundnuts Prepared	4,605,318	11,243,457
Sweet Biscuits	4,149,145	10,003,071
Pasta	3,814,024	4,746,943
Tomato Paste	1,963,545	1,329,466
Canned Sardine	370,178	423,955
Canned Meat	684,616	412,434

 

 

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