Chamber of Agribusiness calls for revival of Nkrumah’s Agro-Industrial Vision

The Chamber of Agribusiness Ghana has called for a revival of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah’s long-term development model as the country marks Founder’s Day 2025.

In its statement, the Chamber said the best way to celebrate the 116th birthday of Ghana’s first President is to revive Nkrumah’s agro-industrial vision, which remains the most coherent blueprint for self-sustaining economic growth. It noted that Nkrumah’s 40-Year National Accelerated Development Plan was a bold effort to secure economic sovereignty beyond political independence.

The Chamber stressed that the agro-industrial vision placed agriculture at the centre of industrialisation. Factories such as the Asutuare Sugar Factory, Bolgatanga Meat Processing Factory, and Wenchi Tomato Factory were established to add value to produce and reduce post-harvest losses. The Tema Food Complex, described as the flagship project, was designed to integrate large-scale value addition into Ghana’s food chain.

It added that Nkrumah’s agro-industrial vision extended to supporting sectors like textiles, packaging, tyres, and steel production, all working together to sustain growth. Core infrastructure projects such as the Akosombo Dam, Tema Oil Refinery, and Ghana Airways were also critical to this integrated national plan.

According to the Chamber, Ghana must adopt a modern version of this framework, guided by a 40-year national agro-industrial strategy. It recommended developing agro-industrial clusters, creating agro-processing parks, and investing in infrastructure through public-private partnerships.

They pledged to work with government, development partners, and private sector stakeholders to translate this vision into policies and programmes. It maintained that only integrated and long-term planning can position agribusiness as the true engine of inclusive growth.

A Call to Action: Reigniting Integrated Planning for a Modern Ghana
The Chamber of Agribusiness Ghana believes that the best way to honour Dr. Nkrumah’s legacy is to revive his commitment to integrated, long-term development planning. In that spirit, we call on the Government of Ghana to adopt a contemporary, public-private partnership driven version of this visionary blueprint. We specifically urge:

1. Adoption of a 40-year national agro-industrial development framework: Establish a cross-party, long-term policy framework that provides certainty for major agribusiness investment and aligns national efforts beyond short-term political cycles.

2. Implementation of an integrated sector development strategy: Move beyond siloed interventions. Develop agro-industrial clusters by incentivising core sectors (e.g., cereals, poultry) alongside adjacent industries such as feed mills, vet pharmaceuticals, packaging, and cold-chain logistics as part of the 24H+ and Volta corridor industrial policies.

3. Revitalisation of foundational infrastructure through PPPs: Prioritise substantial public-private investment in reliable energy, expanded irrigation, and rural road networks; the essential backbone of a competitive agribusiness sector.

4. Establishment of national agro-processing parks: Draw lessons from the Tema Food Complex by developing modern Special Economic Zones for agro-processing, complete with shared infrastructure and streamlined regulatory processes.

5. Investment in agri-tech and future-ready human capital: Align educational and training programmes with the skill demands of a modern agro-industrial economy, fostering a new generation of innovators, engineers, and agripreneurs.

The Chamber of Agribusiness Ghana stands ready to collaborate with government, development partners, and the private sector to translate this vision into actionable policies and programmes. On this Founders’ Day, let us re-affirm our commitment to the bold, strategic, and integrated planning that laid the foundation for our country. By building on Dr. Nkrumah’s formidable blueprint, we can position agribusiness as the undisputed engine of inclusive and sustainable economic growth for the next forty years and beyond.