Hon Dr. Bryan Achempong, Minister,Ministry of Food and Agriculture made mention that the 3rd edition of the International Coconut Festival was jointly organized by the Tree Crops Development Authority (TCDA), the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA), the Western Regional Coordinating Council (WRCC), and the African Coconut Group under the theme “Invest in Ghana’s Coconut Sector for an Inclusive Economic Transformation and Improved Climate and Social Resilience”.

The theme for this year's event aligns with the Government of Ghana’s vision to diversify and grow the economy by modernizing agriculture and accelerating industrialization, as well as by prioritizing climate resilience and mitigation. The government’s vision, as contained in the objectives of the National Medium-Term Development Policy Framework 2022–2025 and the "Ghana Beyond Aid" reform agenda 2019–2028, aims to capitalize on Ghana’s comparative advantages in agro-processing and heavy industries like aluminium, steel, and petrochemicals, improving agricultural productivity, enhancing human capital, and developing the digital economy to increase economic efficiency.

Despite the fact that industry and services now dominate our national economy, agriculture remains a cornerstone of Ghana's economic development. The sector contributes 20 percent of Ghana's GDP and employs over a quarter of the country's labour force. An estimated 68 percent of informal sector occupations are related to agriculture, and more than 70 percent of female workers are employed in the sector. Agriculture will continue to contribute significantly to the nation's export revenues. Ghana's tree crop sector, though it accounts for 9 percent of the total volume of commodities produced, contributes approximately 85 percent of the country's total agricultural exports, 70 percent of which are cocoa.

For more than a century, Ghana has relied on cocoa as a significant revenue commodity and source of foreign exchange earnings. Despite the country's abundance of land suitable for growing cocoa, deforestation, climate change, and other human-caused environmental destruction threaten this fantastic opportunity. There are, however, other tree commodities besides cocoa that have tremendous economic diversification potential for inclusive and sustainable economic transformation.

To harness the potential of these other tree crops, the Government of Ghana in 2019 established the Tree Crops Development Authority (TCDA) through an act of Parliament (Act 1010) with the mandate to regulate and develop the production, processing, and trading of six priority tree crops: cashew, shea, mango, oil palm, rubber, and coconut.

The focus of the occassion was on the Ghanaian coconut industry. By global standards, Ghana is a relatively minor producer of coconut, but the commodity has a significant impact on local economies in certain regions of the country. Coconut is cultivated extensively in Western, Central, Accra, Eastern, Ashanti, and Volta, and to a lesser extent in Bono, Ahafo, and Oti. It is a significant source of income for households along the coast of Ghana, especially in the Jomoro, Ellembelle, and Nzema East districts, where production is concentrated. Recent trends in coconut cultivation have favoured 10- to 200-hectare plantations with a commercial focus. Historically, smallholder farmers cultivating an average of 2 to 5 hectares have dominated its production.

The average coconut yield in Ghana is estimated at 2 metric tons per hectare, against an achievable yield of 40 metric tons per hectare, resulting in a yield gap of 52%. Consequently, land expansion is the primary driver of production volume growth in Ghana. If Ghana desires to produce in a sustainable and competitive manner, such a low level of productivity is untenable. He challenged public research institutions to provide our esteemed farmers with cutting-edge productivity-enhancing technologies, such as disease-resistant and climate-resilient seedlings that have a genetic advantage for increased coconut production.

Ageing trees, limited access to financing for replanting, inefficient land tenure, low investment in production technologies, limited capacity to process coconut products, and a weak regulatory framework are additional challenges confronting the coconut industry. Emerging market opportunities, such as a rapidly expanding regional market for cosmetics and food products and rising European demand for fresh coconuts and coconut-based treats, present opportunities for the country to reposition itself in the competitive global coconut market.

To realize the potential of Ghana's coconut industry, the government is procuring a $200 million IDA-World Bank facility for a six-year Tree Crop Diversification Project with the aim of developing four tree crop commodities, namely cocoa, cashew, rubber, and coconut.

The facility will finance the following interventions:

• Institutional Strengthening and Value Chain Governance;
• Improving Tree Crops Productivity and Climate Resilience; and
• Support for Post-Harvest Management, Value Addition, and Market Access.

The Tree Crops Development Authority (TCDA) and the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) will implement the proposed Tree Crop Diversification Project under the supervision of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA).

He said he believed that the Coconut Federation and their respective value chain associations will collaborate with the government in implementing the Tree Crop Diversification Project in order to address the bottlenecks facing the industry and strategically position Ghana in the global coconut market.

This is a golden opportunity for our esteemed development partners to efficiently align their resources and commitments for mutual accountability as we address systemic challenges in the tree crop industry for an inclusive and sustainable economic transformation.

Before taking his seat, he commend the organizers of this year’s festival for putting together a comprehensive and well-thought-out program and was delighted by the level of precision of the activities and the relevance of the panel discussion topics for this three-day event. In addition, it is impossible to overstate the importance of the diverse expertise and high calibre of speakers convened for the respective panel discussions.

He stated that, it was his fervent belief that this was the ideal forum for a dispassionate discussion of the issues afflicting the coconut industry and for the generation of appropriate solutions and recommendations to guide policymakers, investors, market operators, and consumers in their decision-making process. He anticipated receiving a communique from the organizers that concisely summarizes the recommendations from each panel discussion and the outcome of this three-day event.

 On behalf of the Government of Ghana, He welcomed all participants, notably our overseas participants, and wished them a pleasurable stay in Ghana. He declared the third edition of the International Coconut Festival duly opened