Government is targeting one million metric tons (MT) of soya beans production by 2027, Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr. Bryan Acheampong, has revealed.

According to him, Ghana will be a leading soya bean producer by 2030.

“In 2022, the total soybean production and consumption was 255,209 MT. Ghana plans to increase its production from a current 255,000MT to over one million metric tons (1,000,000 MT) by 2027".

"Indeed, Ghana is the number one exporter of yam in the world, number two in cocoa production and we’re hoping that by 2030, Ghana will be the number one exporter of soya in the world,” he added.

Data gathered by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture indicates that there has been a tremendous increase in the export of soya from Ghana.

To this end, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the Japanese government under the auspices of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture launched a project to support soya bean production dubbed “Support to Soybean Development Programme in Ghana”.

FAO Representative to Ghana, Yurdi Yasmi, speaking at the launch said the project is critical to ensuring food security and nutritional security, following the impact of global crises on the soya value chain.

“With a lot of crisis that the world is facing at the moment; Russia-Ukraine war and the climate crisis, it is important for Ghana to be self-sufficient in various ways including soya bean. It is a very critical commodity in Ghana".

"Ghana has all the capacity to produce soya bean in a sustainable way to ensure food and nutritional security and in the future consider export,” he stated.

Japan Ambassador to Ghana, Mochizuki Hisanobu also said the “Support to Soybean Development Programme in Ghana” project is an indication of Japan’s continuous support for Ghana and agriculture.

“From the perceptive of the government of Japan, this project particularly has two aspects. This project exemplifies Japan’s continuous efforts to support agriculture in Ghana. The government of Japan considers agriculture as one of the primary areas of its support to Ghana,” he emphasised.

The Support to Soybean Development Programme will run for a year and end in March 2024.