The Ministry of Food and Agriculture has successfully launched the Ghana Agricultural Fund for Education and Transformation (GAFET), a new initiative aimed at strengthening agricultural education, skills development, research and innovation to support Ghana’s agricultural transformation.

The Fund was launched at a ceremony held at The Palms by Eagles Hotel, Airport City, Accra, on Tuesday, August 11, 2026. The event brought together development partners, private sector representatives, heads of agricultural colleges and universities, research institutions, financial institutions, traditional leaders and students.

Speaking at the launch, the Minister for Food and Agriculture, Hon. Eric Opoku, said the success of Ghana’s agricultural transformation would depend not only on infrastructure, irrigation, mechanisation and financing, but also on the quality of the human capital driving the sector.

He described GAFET as an important human-capital pillar of the Feed Ghana Programme, noting that sustainable food production and agricultural modernisation required well-trained agricultural engineers, extension professionals, researchers, technicians, entrepreneurs and agribusiness leaders.

“No country has transformed its agriculture without first investing in the people and institutions that make agricultural transformation possible,” the Minister said.

Hon. Eric Opoku noted that while Ghana’s agricultural colleges, universities, technical institutions and research centres had played an important role in developing professionals for the sector, many still required improved laboratories, workshops, demonstration farms, modern machinery, digital learning tools, research support and scholarships.

He stressed the need to strengthen practical agricultural education so that graduates would be equipped with the knowledge and skills required to respond to the needs of farmers and agribusinesses.

“Agricultural education must combine sound theoretical knowledge with practical skills to prepare graduates to respond effectively to the needs of farmers and agribusinesses” he stated.

The Minister said the scale of the challenge made collaboration between government, the private sector, development partners, philanthropic organisations, alumni and citizens essential.

He commended Mr. Steven Nhyira Odarteifio, the Lead Coordinator for GAFET and Hon. Kwesi Etu-Bonde, Technical Advisor to the Minister for their leadership and commitment to establishing the Fund. He also acknowledged five pioneering Ghanaian agribusinesses—Grow For Me, AgriSolve, Farmerline, Newage AgriSolutions and TradeLine Consult—for contributing to the mobilisation of an initial GH¢3.5 million in seed funding.

Declaring the Fund officially launched, Hon. Eric Opoku called on commercial banks, pension funds, insurance companies, agribusinesses, development partners, philanthropic organisations, alumni associations and other well-meaning Ghanaians to support the initiative.

Mr. Steven Nhyira Odarteifio for his part said the Fund was driven by the need to address the practical skills gap among agricultural graduates.

He noted that agricultural students needed greater access to practical training, modern machinery, demonstration farms, irrigation facilities and industrial attachments to prepare them adequately for the world of work.

According to him, the Fund would be operationalised as a professionally governed national endowment, with resources dedicated to agricultural education transformation. He announced plans for a nationwide and international resource mobilisation campaign to grow the Fund.

He further explained that, to ensure transparency and accountability, the proposed governance framework provides for a Governing Board, an independent Fund Administrator or Technical Advisor, a Securities and Exchange Commission-licensed Fund Manager, a Custodian Bank and an independent external auditor.

The Fund is also expected to support the upgrading of laboratories and workshops, provision of agricultural machinery, development of demonstration farms, digital learning, applied research and innovation, scholarships, internships and industrial attachments.

It was also announced that, the Fund has set an initial target of growing its resources to GH¢10 million by December 2026 and GH¢100 million by the end of 2028. The Ministry also plans to work towards transforming GAFET into a permanent national statutory institution under its policy oversight, subject to the necessary stakeholder consultations, policy and legal processes, and parliamentary approval.

The launch marks a significant step towards building stronger agricultural education institutions and developing the human capital required to make Ghana’s agricultural transformation sustainable.