Ghana’s coconut sector is fast growing with over 383,960 metric tons of the fruit produced annually.

So far, the production level for coconut is less than a percent of the global production rate. This has necessitated the National Exports Development Strategy (NEDS) to intervene.  

The NEDS initiative, which forms part of the government’s post-Covid-19 economic recovery program, is to “expand existing and establish newly certified coconut seedling nurseries of high-yield and disease-resistant varieties and increase the availability of other planting inputs”.

A strategy document available to Joy Business further explains that the coconut subsector is to benefit from increased investment into the expansion and the reactivation of coconut oil mills and refineries as well as the establishment of new ones at medium to large scale level.

What this means is that projected export revenues for coconut products will spike from $5 million by the end of 2020 to $298 million by the closing of 2029.

The past 10 years have seen a resurgence of the local market for fresh coconuts and a renewed interest by investors in the coconut plantation development. There already exist programs to replant areas destroyed by the Cape St. Wilt Disease. In fact, the Ghana Export Promotion Authority is supporting the production of planting material of disease-resistant hybrid varieties.

Coconuts are mostly found at the coastal belts of Ghana, typically, Volta, Western, Central and Greater Accra regions. Eighty percent of these coconut farms in Ghana are owned by small and marginal farmers.