Presidential Advisor on the government’s 24-Hour Economy initiative, Goosie Tanoh, has underscored the critical role of a strong national seed system in driving Ghana’s agricultural transformation and delivering the country’s ambitious 24-hour economy agenda.
Speaking at the National Seed System Reset Programme on Monday, March 16, Mr Tanoh said Ghana already possesses the scientific capacity and institutional foundations needed to build a modern seed sector capable of supporting large-scale agricultural productivity.
The event was organised by the 24-Hour Economy Authority in partnership with the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Ghana and the Ghana Seed Partnership.
Mr Tanoh described the programme not as a peripheral activity but as a central component of the government’s strategy to implement the 24-hour economy, also referred to as the 24H+ vision.
According to him, visits to research and development facilities during the event demonstrated that Ghana has the technical resources necessary to treat seed development as a core element of national economic infrastructure.
These facilities included laboratories and seed research units at the West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement (WACCI), where participants toured early-generation seed production facilities, certification laboratories and the Horticulture Innovation Hub.
“What we experienced this afternoon is not a side event; it is the front door to how Ghana will deliver the 24H+ vision on the ground,” Mr Tanoh said.
He noted that Ghana’s challenge is not a lack of capability but rather the need for stronger coordination, clear institutional architecture and effective execution.
The programme featured a joint exhibition involving several public and private sector organisations working within the agricultural value chain.
These included the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), the National Seed Trade Association of Ghana (NASTAG), the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC), the government’s Feed Ghana Programme, the Legacy Crop Improvement Centre (LCIC), and Integrated Water & Agricultural Development (Ghana) Limited (IWAD).
Also represented were initiatives such as the Beela Project in partnership with TRAX and the Ghana–Netherlands Seed Partnership.
Mr Tanoh said the collaboration demonstrated that both public institutions and private actors possess the necessary expertise and capacity to build a functional national seed delivery system.
“Private and public capabilities are not our constraint; architecture, coordination and execution are,” he noted.
The Presidential Advisor emphasised that the 24-hour economy programme has moved beyond planning into an implementation phase.
“As we move deeper into 2026, 24H+ is an execution programme, not a design exercise,” he said.
He outlined several targets the government hopes to achieve this year, including:
- Activation of 200,000 jobs across priority sectors
- Onboarding of 500 small and medium-sized enterprises into structured finance and industrial park ecosystems
- Mobilisation of more than GH¢10 billion in capital commitments
- Operationalisation of the Volta Economic Corridor, including at least five agro-ecological or aquaculture parks and three industrial parks
- Establishment of three cooperative-owned production and processing enterprises
According to Mr Tanoh, these targets will serve as the key performance indicators for measuring the programme’s progress.
Mr Tanoh stressed that none of these objectives would be achievable without a well-organised and adequately financed seed system capable of delivering improved crop varieties to farmers at scale.
He said the planned seed reforms would feed directly into initiatives such as the GROW24 agro-ecological parks, Feed Ghana centres, cooperative production models and national price stabilisation systems.
“When we discuss activating parks, corridors, export platforms and cooperative enterprises, we are essentially talking about reliable access to quality seed combined with anchor demand, finance and logistics,” he explained.
He added that a coordinated seed architecture—where government de-risks investment and guarantees demand while private and cooperative actors produce at scale—would significantly strengthen agricultural productivity.
Mr Tanoh also highlighted the need to strengthen intellectual property protections within the seed industry to encourage innovation and investment.
He said plant breeders, research institutions and private seed companies must be assured that their work will be protected through enforceable licensing agreements and clear legal frameworks governing plant breeders’ rights.
“Our aim is not to create barriers for farmers, but to balance affordable access to quality seed with clear rules on ownership, revenue sharing and technology transfer,” he said.
According to him, such measures would help deter counterfeiting while encouraging the development of improved crop varieties.
Looking ahead, Mr Tanoh said discussions during the programme should lead to concrete outcomes rather than simply identifying challenges.
He indicated that participants are expected to agree on architectural principles for the national seed delivery system, crop-specific distribution models and the formation of a Seed Systems Task Team.
The task team will be given a 60-day mandate to present a detailed implementation roadmap.
Within 90 days, Mr Tanoh said authorities expect to see:
- Early-generation seed production plans finalised
- Regulatory reforms initiated
- Pilot delivery models for maize and rice aligned with the GROW24 and Feed Ghana programmes.
Mr Tanoh expressed appreciation to several institutions for their role in advancing the initiative, including the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (Ghana), WACCI, CSIR, NASTAG and the Ghana–Netherlands Seed Partnership.
He also acknowledged support from development partners such as the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
According to him, the collaborative effort demonstrated that Ghana already possesses a strong foundation for building a modern seed system.
“You have confirmed that Ghana is not starting from zero; we are starting from a strength that now needs to be organised into a coherent national seed delivery system,” he said.
Mr Tanoh urged stakeholders to move quickly from dialogue to decisive action.
He stressed that the design of a modern seed system would directly influence the country’s ability to meet its broader economic targets under the 24-hour economy programme.
“As we close Day One, we must return tomorrow not to recount problems but to design the seed system that will feed our parks, our cooperatives, our exporters and our urban consumers in a 24-hour economy,” he said.
He added that the outcomes of the programme would be closely linked to Ghana’s ability to achieve its 2026 targets for job creation, SME growth, capital mobilisation and the activation of key economic corridors.
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Source: www.myjoyonline.com