Ghana’s US$3.5 Billion Food Import Bill ‘Cannot Continue,’ Finance Minister Warns

Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson has issued a blunt challenge to Ghana’s dependence on imported food, declaring that the country’s annual US$3.5 billion food import bill is unsustainable and that peasant agriculture cannot solve the problem.

Speaking in an interview on Thursday, November 12, 2026, after presenting the 2027 Budget to Parliament, Dr. Forson argued that Ghana has the land, water, and youthful population to feed itself—and to supply the industries that currently rely on foreign goods.

“We spend about 3.5 billion United States dollars yearly to bring foodstuffs into our country. It cannot continue,” he said.

The Scale of the Dependence

The minister’s figure aligns with official trade data. Ghana’s food import bill reached GH¢36.46 billion in 2025, according to the Ghana Statistical Service, with processed cereal grains, frozen chicken, and rice dominating the list . Frozen chicken alone accounted for GH¢2.84 billion, making it the second-largest food import and representing between 80% and 95% of national poultry consumption .

Rice imports tell a similar story: Ghana spent US$341.4 million on 807,314 tonnes of rice in 2025, with Vietnam, Thailand, China, India, and Togo as the top suppliers .

“Why should we be importing about $200 million of chicken every year?” Dr. Forson asked. “Why can’t we use our land to grow soybean and maize to feed the poultry industry?”

The poultry sector’s structural weakness is well documented. Ghana consumes roughly 400,000 metric tonnes of poultry annually, but local production provides less than 60,000 tonnes . The gap is filled by imports from the European Union, Brazil, and the United States—often at prices below the cost of domestic production, a consequence of trade liberalisation that dismantled tariff protections decades ago .

Pwalugu and the Vegetable Question

Dr. Forson also flagged Ghana’s reliance on neighbouring Burkina Faso for vegetables, describing it as an unnecessary vulnerability. “We spend hundreds of millions of dollars every year to bring in vegetables. Pwalugu can be the solution,” he said.

The 2027 Budget commits US$1 billion to the Pwalugu Multipurpose Dam, which is designed to irrigate more than 25,000 hectares for year-round vegetable production and generate 70 megawatts of hydropower for agro-processing . The first phase is scheduled for completion by early 2029, with full delivery by December 2030 .

Cocoa: Value Addition or Continued Export

The minister’s broader argument extends to cocoa, where he renewed his call for local processing. He confirmed that a new Cocoa Board Act mandates 50% domestic processing, with a Legislative Instrument to set the timetable for reaching 100% by 2030.

“We are not saying don’t come and buy our cocoa beans, but if you are a company out there, come and buy our cocoa beans, but add value here in Ghana,” he said.

Dr. Forson disclosed that Nigerian industrialist Aliko Dangote has expressed interest in using Ghana as a cocoa-processing hub, with discussions underway over a proposed contract covering 500,000 metric tonnes. Terms were still being reviewed.

The Road Ahead

As Parliament begins deliberations on the 2027 Budget, the government’s challenge is translating these ambitions into delivered infrastructure—irrigation, feed supply chains, processing capacity—before the import bill compounds further. The Pwalugu Dam has already faced contracting difficulties, and the poultry sector’s feed cost problem remains unresolved.

For Dr. Forson, the diagnosis is clear. “The current agriculture, peasant agriculture, cannot solve the problems,” he said. Whether the 2027 Budget’s commercial agriculture provisions can change that remains the open question.