President John Dramani Mahama’s proposed feed the Industries policy seeks to connect large-scale agricultural production directly to domestic processing, providing the raw materials needed to raise factory output, create sustainable employment and support Ghana’s 24-Hour Economy.

The programme is expected to begin with a Central Region pilot targeting more than 18,000 youth employment and enterprise opportunities across farming, aggregation, transportation, processing, packaging, logistics and distribution.

A nationwide rollout could create more than 250,000 opportunities while increasing raw-material supplies to agro-processors and raising factory capacity utilization for domestic and export production.

More than 15,000 acres have reportedly been secured in the Central Region for high-value and industrial crops. The pilot is expected to include the Central Citrus Processing Factory at Asebu and the Youth in High-Value Crop Value Chain Programme covering Ekumfi and other parts of the region.

Feed the Factory before running it 24 hours

Feed the Industries seeks to address a major constraint facing Ghana’s agro-processing industry: reliable year-round supplies of raw materials.

Longer factory operating hours under the 24-Hour Economy will require more than additional shifts. Processing plants need adequate inputs, power, transport, storage, financing and markets to sustain increased production.

The more than 15,000 acres identified in the Central Region could provide an initial production base for crops required by processors.

The approach also fits into the wider Feed Ghana Programme, which has selected 22 priority commodity value chains and lists increasing raw-material supplies to agro-industry, value addition and agricultural exports among its objectives.

Under the proposed Value Chain Contracting for Youth model, young people would operate in commercial production clusters linked to established buyers. This would give farmers greater certainty over what to produce and where to sell, while factories gain greater visibility over the quantity and timing of supplies.

Ekumfi: From under 20% to Over 80% Production

Ekumfi Fruits and Juices provide one of the clearest opportunities to demonstrate the industrial impact of the programme.

The factory has capacity to process about 10 tonnes of pineapple, or roughly 10,000 fruits, every hour. At that rate, one hour of processing requires the equivalent of about four acres of harvested pineapple.

The scale of the raw-material requirement becomes clearer when operating hours are extended. Eight hours at the stated capacity would require about 80 tonnes of fruit, while longer shifts would sharply increase demand from surrounding farms.

Feed the Industries could therefore help move Ekumfi from below 20 percent production capacity to more than 80 percent utilization by expanding commercial pineapple cultivation and organizing growers capable of supplying the required volumes.

Higher utilization would also increase demand for farmers, aggregators, transporters, packaging companies, distributors and other businesses linked to the factory.

The connection with the 24-Hour Economy is direct: Ekumfi cannot move towards round-the-clock production unless pineapple cultivation expands sufficiently to keep its processing lines supplied.

Removing the 20% Excise Duty Barrier

The raw-material intervention is being complemented by the removal of the 20 percent excise-duty burden on locally manufactured natural fruit juices.

The measure could improve the competitive position of domestic processors by reducing the tax burden on finished products while Feed the Industries tackles constraints on the supply side.

For Ekumfi, the combination could be major. More pineapple production would support higher factory utilization, while the tax measure creates additional room to compete with imported beverages and expand distribution.

The policy intervention therefore targets both sides of the production equation: increasing the raw materials entering factories and improving the competitiveness of the products leaving them.

Making Ekumfi Juice Available to Ghana — and the World

Moving Ekumfi above 80 percent capacity would create economic activity well beyond the factory floor.

Previous company figures showed more than 1,000 workers, mostly on its farms, and more than 75 professionals at the factory. The company was operating two shifts at the time and planned to increase this to three as production expanded.

At full capacity, earlier projections indicated the plant could produce about 300 million packs of juice annually for domestic and export markets.

The company has also previously identified export markets in the United States, United Kingdom and Dubai, providing an existing international dimension to its expansion plans.

Higher utilization could therefore increase demand for pineapple cultivation, mechanisation, harvesting, aggregation, transportation, packaging, warehousing and distribution while generating additional export earnings.

The production chain is straightforward:

FARM → FACTORY → PROCESSING → PACKAGING → DISTRIBUTION → GHANAIAN CONSUMER → EXPORT MARKET

The opportunity is to convert more Ghanaian agricultural produce into finished goods before they reach domestic and overseas consumers.

CENTRAL CITRUS: ANOTHER INDUSTRIAL TEST

The Central Citrus Processing Factory at Asebu provides another test of the model.

The factory has been reported to have capacity to process more than 15 tonnes of oranges per hour. Together with Ekumfi's 10-tonne-per-hour pineapple capacity, the two plants represent more than 25 tonnes of headline fruit-processing capacity every hour when operating at their stated rates.

Sustaining those volumes requires more than factory machinery. It requires organized production involving growers, aggregators, transporters and other suppliers capable of delivering fruit consistently.

The Ekumfi and Asebu clusters could therefore demonstrate whether agricultural contracting can translate directly into higher industrial capacity utilization and longer operating hours.

18,000 Youth opportunities from the Central Region

The Central Region pilot is projected to facilitate more than 18,000 direct and indirect youth employment and enterprise opportunities.

The opportunities extend beyond direct farming and factory employment.

Increasing agricultural output would require nursery operators, irrigation technicians, tractor operators, agronomists, extension officers, harvesting teams, aggregators and transporters.

Higher processing volumes would create further activity in packaging, warehousing, distribution, marketing and exports.

Ekumfi's earlier employment numbers already illustrate how processing can extend jobs beyond the factory itself, with more than 1,000 workers reported across its operations, most of them on farms.

The employment potential of Feed the Industries will therefore depend heavily on how much additional production can be generated around the factories.

From 18,000 to over 250,000 Nationwide

The larger opportunity lies in extending the Central Region model to other agricultural and industrial areas.

A nationwide rollout of Feed the Industries and the Youth in High-Value Crop Value Chain Programme is projected to facilitate more than 250,000 employment and enterprise opportunities.

The wider Feed Ghana Programme already covers 22 priority commodity value chains, providing a broader agricultural base for linking production to domestic processing.

Pineapple, citrus, avocado, coconut, mango, papaya, banana, passion fruit, ginger and oil palm are among crops with potential to support larger processing industries serving Ghanaian and export markets.

The national opportunity therefore goes beyond producing more crops. It lies in processing a greater share of Ghana's agricultural output locally before it leaves the farm gate.

Building a National Value-Addition Chain

The scale of Ekumfi illustrates the difference between primary agricultural production and value addition.

At full capacity, the factory was projected to produce about 300 million packs of juice annually. That means pineapple leaving farms can pass through processing, packaging, branding, transportation and retail before reaching consumers.

Each stage creates additional economic activity that would otherwise be lost if agricultural commodities were sold mainly in their primary form.

The same principle applies to citrus, coconut, mango, oil palm and other crops targeted for commercial expansion.

Feed the Industries could therefore develop beyond an agricultural programme into an industrial supply strategy linking farms directly to manufacturing.

Import Substitution and Exports

Greater agro-processing could also strengthen Ghana's external sector through import substitution and exports.

Increasing domestic production of fruit juices, processed foods, oils and other products could replace part of the country's imports where Ghanaian manufacturers can compete on price and quality.

Exports provide the second opportunity. Ekumfi has already identified overseas markets, including the US, UK and Dubai, while its production facilities were designed to serve both local and export demand.

The foreign-exchange effect works in both directions: producing competitive substitutes locally reduces demand for foreign currency to finance imports, while additional exports generate new inflows.

Higher agricultural production alone will therefore not capture the full opportunity. More of the output must reach Ghanaian factories and leave them as higher-value products.

The Real Sector Multiplier

The Central Region model brings together more than 15,000 acres earmarked for production, an 18,000-plus youth opportunity target and two major fruit-processing facilities with combined headline capacity exceeding 25 tonnes per hour.

This creates links across agriculture, manufacturing, transport, finance, packaging, distribution and exports.

Farmers supply processors, factories add value, logistics companies move inputs and finished goods, while financial institutions provide working capital and investment financing across the chain.

The national potential of more than 250,000 opportunities will ultimately be tied to the number of commercially viable production chains that can be established around factories and markets.

Feed the Industries could turn Ghana’s agricultural potential into industrial growth by getting more farms to supply factories, raising production and taking more Ghanaian products to domestic and global markets. That is where the 24-Hour Economy can begin to deliver real-sector transformation.