Grow24 to irrigate over 2 million hectares for intensive agriculture — President Mahama
Grow24, one of the eight subprogramme reports under the broader 24-Hour Economy and Accelerated Export Development Programme, aims to irrigate over two million hectares of land to support intensive agriculture, according to President John Dramani Mahama.
He made this announcement during the official launch of the initiative on Wednesday, July 2, in Accra.
“Today, we’re recreating Kwame Nkrumah’s dream. Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah’s vision comes alive again. Under Grow24, we will irrigate over two million hectares of land to drive intensive agriculture. Grow24 is about boosting agricultural productivity, agro-processing, and food security,” President Mahama said.
The 24-Hour+ Programme is presented in nine documents: one comprehensive Full Report and eight subprogramme reports—Grow24, Make24, Build24, Show24, Connect24, Fund24, Aspire24, and Go24—each focusing on a specific operational area.
He outlined the core focus of each subprogramme:
Make24 – Development of agro-industrial parks for textiles, pharmaceuticals, and food processing.
Show24 – Creation of tourism clusters, particularly around the lake.
Connect24 – Enhancing logistics, transport, warehousing, ports, energy, and digital infrastructure.
Build24 – Accelerating infrastructure, housing, construction, and public works.
Shore24 – Tapping into Ghana’s creative, cultural, and tourism assets. (Note: This appears as "Show24" earlier—please confirm the correct name.)
Fund24 – Unlocking innovative financing through credit guarantees, blended finance, and venture capital.
Aspire24 – Building skills, ethics, values, and digital capacity to boost national competitiveness.
President Mahama emphasized that while the 24-Hour+ Programme is national in scope, its flagship project will focus on the Volta Economic Corridor (VEC)—a strategic effort to unlock the economic and environmental potential of the Volta Lake and surrounding lands.
"Ladies and gentlemen, our first president, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, envisioned the Volta project at Akosombo. Not only as a source of power to power Ghana's industrial sector. He also saw it as an integrated project that will provide agribusiness, it will provide lands for agriculture, irrigation. Unfortunately, that aspect of his vision has been lost."
"Today, we are recreating Kwame Nkrumah's dream. Today, Osadjefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah's dream comes alive again," he said.
The Programme seeks to re-engineer the country’s productivity architecture by extending economic activity beyond conventional hours and integrating key sectors into a seamless value chain.
It is positioned as a nationwide economic reboot, to create 1.7 million quality jobs within four years. It targets strategic value chains in agriculture, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, textiles, infrastructure, and logistics.
The initiative is designed to harness the potential of every Ghanaian, every hour of the day, and reduce reliance on imports while boosting exports.
