CASE STUDY: GHANA
Although the Ghanaian mechanization sector is still in its early stages, with comparatively low machinery growth rates, the Government’s commitment to mechanization is reflected by its support to the AMSECs and push toward growing private-sector involvement, particularly through increasing private-sector involvement in the hiring services market.
To achieve further progress, more targeted policy interventions on agricultural mechanization will need to be developed and national research capacities further strengthened, for example through dedicated research institutions and courses on agricultural mechanization.
With approximately 16 percent of agricultural land being cultivated with machines and 11 percent of arable land being irrigated, Ghana does comparatively well, but it remains on a lower level of mechanization. However, there are considerable regional variations in terms of machine adoption. The 2018 African Union’s Biennial Review Report showed that Ghana is on track to meet target #3.1, “Access to agriculture inputs and technologies,” with a score of 5.9 out of above the minimum score of 5.53. The overall commitment category score is 10. The high annual agricultural output growth of 4.8 percent within the last 10 years demonstrates the Government’s commitment to transforming its agriculture sector, although the country is not considered to be rapidly mechanizing according to our methodology, with an annual agricultural machinery growth of only 2.4 percent between 2005 and 2014.
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