Horticulturists in Ghana are proposing the establishment of a horticulture industry to see to the development of the sector.
Government earlier this year announced a three-year horticulture development plan as a core pillar of its broader agricultural transformation agenda.
But speaking to Citi Business News on the sidelines of the 25th Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference of the Ghana Institute of Horticulturists, Agric Research Scientist, Professor Roger Kanton said the policy must go beyond planning.
He argues that Ghana’s best chance at building a competitive, market-driven agricultural economy lies in prioritising horticulture and establishing specialised research and training institutes dedicated to driving innovation in the sub-sector.
Professor Kanton emphasized that horticulture has the potential to generate high-value exports, create sustainable jobs and anchor Ghana’s ambition of a modernized, round-the-clock agricultural economy.
“Horticultural industry can save this country in excess of up to about $5 billion dollars far in excess of what Ghana went to the IMF for and they are bullying us here and the. We can do that very easily. Just two crops I have mentioned – onion and tomato. Clearly, if Ghana wants to stabilize our agriculture, horticulture crops are the crops to go for.
“If I tell you the amount of money we spend in importing garden eggs, ginger and several of those other not very much used by the ordinary Ghanaian, it is so colossal. Question is why we have not put in place mechanisms such as a horticulture authority and a specific institute-Ghana Institute of Horticulture,” Professor Roger Kanton added.
Meanwhile President of the Ghana Institute of Horticulturists, Professor Abdul-Halim Abubakari, says horticulture remains one of Ghana’s most undervalued growth pillars despite its capacity to earn significant foreign exchange and create thousands of jobs.
Professor Abubakari stressed that a structured regulatory and promotional framework will unlock investment and position Ghana competitively in regional and global markets.
“We discovered that if you are looking at business and value chain development, vegetables are top in the priority of agricultural crops because they lend themselves easily to value addition. It means that beyond production, you can add value. Then there was government policy about promoting non-traditional export and vegetables are a key part of that.
“So that’s how attention of government is now shifting more to vegetables and horticultural crops. Then COVID also taught us a lesson that we needed to boost our immune system and to boost the immune system, vegetables have a lot of antioxidants to help us boost the immune system.That is how government attention is now shifting to horticultural crops and in terms of export, Kenya has shown us a way that there is a lot we can make exporting flowers to Europe.”
The Ghana Institute of Horticulturists wrapped its two-day national conference focused on charting a stronger research and business agenda to accelerate growth within the country’s horticulture industry.
The conference, held from November 26 to 28, 2025, brought together researchers, policymakers, agribusiness players, and value-chain actors under the theme “Advancing Research and Business Agenda for Rapid Growth of the Horticulture Industry: The Role of the Ghana Institute of Horticulturists.”
“What I think the government should focus on is that instead of giving fragmented policies, we should have a holistic approach to horticultural development. That is why we are calling for the establishment of a horticultural authority. If you go to Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa, they have horticulture research as authorities. So as an authority, we can actually devote resources, funding, technical capacity building and we can actually connect research to business”, Professor Abubakari added.
Source: citinewsroom.com
