The Tree Crops Development Authority has launched a $100 million Strategy and Implementation Plan for the next five years.

Speaking at the launch, the Minister for Food and Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, revealed that they will receive a seed fund of $5 million from government annually.

According to him, this is to equip the authority in achieving its goal of being among the top three countries running the tree crops industry.

“The authority is mandated to regulate and develop tree crop production, processing, and trading in a sustainable manner with the goal of institutionalising a highly developed, diversified, value-added, globally competitive, and sustainable tree crop industry in Ghana. The priority tree crops covered by Act 1010 are cashew, coconut, mango, oil-pam, rubber, and shea nut”.

“These six tree crops have the potential to generate about $16 billion in foreign exchange revenue for Ghana by 2030.  Subsequent to the establishment of the Aauthority, Cabinet has approved a $5 million annual seed fund for the Tree Crops Development Authority for five years,” he said.

Chief Executive of the Tree Crops Development Authority, William Quaittoo, reiterated his outfit’s commitment to ensuring that each of the tree crops generate $2 billion each by 2032.

“In 10 years’ time, we are expecting each of the tree crops to generate about $2 billion just like cocoa. And so if we say in five years, I expect that we'll be able to regain $1 billion per crop. So in other words $6 billion for the five years. The Authority has authority over the entire value chain up to a point. It has to do with the land preparation and agronomy practices, among others.

“Malaysia extracts 22% of their oil palm, whereas Ghana's average is about 12% that is, 50% of what Malaysia is doing. So, we have done all the research and we know all the challenges. And so we know we've found the solution to those challenges,” he emphasised.

The Swiss Embassy and the International Finance Corporation are partners of the Tree Crops Development Authority. Both development partners pledged their continued support to the country and to the authority.

Acting Head of Cooperation at the Swiss Embassy, Anne Schick said, “Our aim is always to build capacities so that the authorities can do the job on their own. We're very much committed to this training together. We have been on the board since 2017 and we are committed to continuing this journey together”.

Senior Regional Manager at International Finance Corporation, Kyle Kelhofer said, “The partnership I see today actually started with the government’s call for investment in climate in 2015, but since 2018 to 2019 there's been an increasing focus on tree crops sector. Originally two tree crops but expanding to six tree crops.”

“The thesis is really simple, this is a comparative advantage to Ghana; land, water, agriculture, history, agricultural potential and what can Ghana do to further develop the income system to further enhance to opportunity for higher value and new tree crops for better jobs and better private sector business and better development in Ghana”.