Agric exports fetch $433m

The agricultural sub-sector emerged a major contributor to non-traditional earnings (NTEs) in 2020, accounting for more than 15 per cent of total earnings this year.

An analysis of the Non-Traditional Export Statistics released by the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA) showed that the subsector contributed $433 million to last year’s earnings.

The amount was equivalent to 15.32 per cent of the period’s total, according to the report.

It also showed that the subsector recorded a 0.65 per cent rise in its performance from the 2019 value of $430 million.

The NTE sector is categorised into three main sub-sectors: agriculture, processed/semi-processed and industrial art and craft sub-sectors.

In all, NTE earnings for Ghana in 2020 amounted to $2.846 billion, reflecting a marginal drop of -1.84 per cent in 2020 over 2019 earnings of $2.899 billion.

A comparative analysis of the top 10 agric products showed that cashew nut was the top earner of all agricultural produce in 2020, with an increase in its performance by 5.67 per cent over 2019 and contributed 58.05 per cent to the total sub-sector earnings.

Cattle, fish and squid were the lowest earners in the first 10 category, contributing about 1.58 per cent to total sub-sector earnings and posed a growth of 54.06 per cent over its 2019 earnings.

The report, released by the GEPA in Accra on December 8, 2021, said the growth in the cashew earnings was triggered by an increase in cross-border sourcing of the product to service a growing demand on the international market.

Agric products

A breakdown shows that mangoes recorded an increase in earnings due to high yield in its production.

“The producers adhered to good agriculture practices such as pruning of the trees, head-on-treatment of bacteria black spot disease and expansion of acreages of land under cultivation led to yield increase,” it said.

Among Ghana’s mango producing regions, the Eastern and Bono regions dominate. Small-scale production accounts for 60 per cent of the total mango production in Ghana.

There are two production seasons; April to August, and November through January.

Earnings from medicinal plants increased due to growth in demand in countries such as China and India.

These medicinal plants were used to produce medicines that treat stress emerging from COVID-19 disease.

Bananas, pineapples, shea nuts, yams and fresh or chilled tunas recorded a decline in performance in 2020 relative to 2019.

The report said the decrease in pineapple export earnings in the period under review was due to low production yield caused by reduction in acreages of farmland under cultivation (triggered by activities of sand winners and expansion of estates development into those areas), poor quality of available fertilisers and challenges associated with the implementation of Bank of Ghana (BoG) letters of commitment.

“The interventions of GEPA in the pineapple sector, through the provision of smooth cayenne suckers to farmers served as raw materials for processing which led to growth in earnings of pineapple juice from $18,175 in 2019 to $3,541,868 in 2020,” the report stated.

Banana recorded a fall of 36.12 per cent in performance in 2020 relative to 2019. The report said the fall was due to depression of demand as a fall out from disruptions in the distribution chains of supermarkets across Europe during the COVID-19 disease related lockdown of economies.

NEDS

The National Export Development Strategy (NEDS) which is expected to give a significant boost to Ghana’s export volumes seeks to grow NTEs from US2.8 billion (2020) to US$25.3 billion in 2029.

An amount of US$60 million will be invested annually under the NEDS to diversify and grow the country’s exports.

The strategy rests on three pillars, namely to expand and diversify the supply base for value added industrial export products and services; to improve the business, regulatory environment for export; and to build and expand the required human capital for industrial export development and marketing.

Also, a set of 17 priority products will be developed based on some specific criteria aimed at transforming the economy from a raw material base to an industrialised one.

They are, processed cocoa, cashew, horticultural products, oil seeds, fish and fishery products, textiles and garments and natural rubber sheets.

The rest are articles of plastic and other petrochemical products, services, pharmaceutical products, iron and steel products, automobiles and vehicles, industrial salt, machinery and components, industrial starch and sugar.

GEPA is spearheading the implementation of the NEDS which will a private-sector-driven approach.