Agricultural economy & structure

Real value added in agriculture grew by 8.5% in 2021, 4.2% in 2022, 5.9% in 2023, 2.7% in 2024 and 6.8% in 2025, against GDP growth of 5.95% in 2025¹. Cocoa's real value added fell by 21.5% in 2024 and grew by 14.4% in 2025, while forestry and logging contracted in each year 2023–2025¹. In the second quarter of 2026 agriculture grew by 3.9% year on year against GDP growth of 6.0%, and fishing contracted by 24.7%².

At current prices crops other than cocoa produced GH¢259.0 billion of the sector's GH¢305.1 billion of value added in 2025, 84.9% (own calculation), cocoa GH¢17.8 billion, livestock GH¢11.6 billion, fishing GH¢8.8 billion and forestry and logging GH¢7.9 billion¹. Agriculture's share of GDP at basic prices fell from 21.4% in 2013 to 18.5% in 2019 and rose to 22.8% in 2025, while cocoa's share fell from 3.0% in 2014 to 1.3% in 2025¹. In dollar terms value added rose from US$12.80 billion in 2013 to US$24.30 billion in 2025, and the cedi's annual average moved from 1.98 per dollar in 2013 to 14.18 in 2024 and 12.56 in 2025³⁴.

The 2021 census counted 3,296,995 persons employed in agriculture, forestry and fishing, 33.0% of the 9,990,237 employed persons aged 15 and older¹¹. The share was 62.9% in rural and 12.3% in urban areas, and 36.6% for men against 28.8% for women¹¹. Ashanti (484,005), Eastern (363,109) and Northern (336,592) had the most agricultural workers¹¹. The GLSS 7 survey of 2016/17 found 38.3% of the employed in agriculture, and the ILO's modelled estimate falls from 48.8% in 2010 to 34.6% in 2025¹²⁷.

Consumption poverty affected 23.4% of the population in 2016/17, 39.5% in rural areas and 67.7% in the rural savannah zone, and 42.7% of people in households headed by self-employed farmers¹³. No later monetary poverty estimate was found in GSS publications. On the GSS multidimensional measure of 13 indicators, 21.9% of the population was poor in the third quarter of 2025 and 32.1% of people in households headed by agricultural workers, and people in such households made up 58.4% of the poor¹⁴. GSS released the report on 22 January 2026¹⁵.

The 2017/18 Census of Agriculture counted 2,158,697 agricultural holders, of whom 607,432 were women, 28.1% (own calculation), and 65.7% of holders in agricultural households mainly grew arable crops and 30.9% tree crops¹⁶. GSS defines small-scale farming as land of 'less than 2 acres for arable crops and less than or equal to 5 acres for tree crops', and 56.7% of the 3,130,492 parcels were in its smallest size class¹⁶. Complete documentation existed for 12.9% of household parcels for crops or forest trees¹⁶.

The Constitution vests stool lands in the stool in trust for its subjects, and the Land Act, 2020 (Act 1036) limits grants of farming rights in stool, clan or family land to 25 years for cereals or poultry and 50 years for tree crops or ranching¹⁸¹⁹. Agricultural land covered 55.4% of the land area in 2024, arable land 20.7% and forest 30.9%, and irrigated land 1.8% of agricultural land²⁰²¹.