Ghana Plans Four Rice Hubs, Targeting 125,000 Jobs in 2027 Budget

ACCRA, November 12, 2026 — Ghana plans to establish four rice-development hubs as part of its new economic investment agenda, targeting around 125,000 jobs and a substantial expansion in domestic rice output.

Finance Minister Cassiel Ato Forson announced the proposal during Thursday's 2027 Budget presentation. The hubs are expected to cover the Afram Plains, the Volta Basin, Western Ghana and Northern Ghana, with production supported by irrigation, mechanisation and processing infrastructure.

The government wants to bring an additional 100,000 hectares into rice cultivation and is targeting yields of five to six metric tonnes per hectare. The strategy includes modern mills, silos, packaging, storage and transport connections intended to reduce losses after harvest.

Proposed investment incentives would help finance irrigation, machinery and processing facilities. The government also plans changes to public procurement rules intended to encourage schools, hospitals and other publicly funded institutions to buy more locally produced food.

The initiative aims to tackle the challenge of expensive food imports while creating more dependable markets for farmers and agricultural businesses. Processing and logistics would be important alongside cultivation, because higher yields alone do not guarantee that rice reaches consumers competitively.

The employment figure is a government projection, not a count of jobs already created. Implementation will depend on the mobilisation of capital, access to land and water, and the ability of farmers and processors to expand production at a commercially sustainable cost.

Photo: Amperiano Yuniawan / Unsplash. Illustrative stock photograph of rice cultivation; not a photograph of the planned Ghana rice hubs. Source: https://unsplash.com/photos/a-farmer-walks-through-a-rice-field-wfoKSVMHSpU