Accra, July 25, GNA – The Tree Crops Development Authority (TCDA), under the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, will on July 27, 2022, launch an ambitious five-year Strategic and Implementation Plan for the development of a competitive and sustainable tree crops industry.
Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, the Minister for Food and Agriculture, who will grace the occasion in Accra, as the Special Guest of Honour, said the launch of the Plan (2022-2027) would serve as a major step towards the establishment of an investment framework to guide the mobilisation of both public and private investments.
This would be geared towards the development of a competitive and sustainable tree crops industry in the country, he said in a statement copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra.
Mr William Agyapong Quaittoo, the Chief Executive Officer, TCDA, expressed optimism that the initiatives and activities from the launch would continue to support and strengthen the respective value chain associations of’ the six mandate tree crops – cashew, coconut, mango, oil-palm, rubber, and shea.
“The Authority is grateful to all its partners and stakeholders, especially the International Financial Corporation (IFC) for the technical assistance provided to TCDA through the Investment Climate Program funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) for the development of the Five-Year Strategy and Implementation Plan (2022–2027),” he said.
Mr Kyle Kelhofer, IFC’s Regional Manager based in Ghana, said IFC was proud to support the five-year plan, which would position TCDA to attract investment into areas with immense potential to help Ghana boost the growth of higher-value agricultural exports and create more and better jobs.
Inaugurated in September 2020 by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the Tree Crops Development Authority has been described as one of the major steps by Government to diversify the country’s agricultural export portfolio through the creation of a robust cash crop sector.
The Authority has a mandate for regulating and creating a conducive environment for the development of tree and industrial crops such as cashew, oil palm, rubber, shea, coconut and mango.
GNA