The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Eric Opoku, has hosted a high-level delegation from Serbia led by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marko ?uri?.

The engagement was intended to deepen bilateral cooperation aimed at transforming Ghana’s agricultural sector, enhancing food security and promoting sustainable agribusiness development.

It highlighted shared aspirations between the two nations, with Serbia showcasing its agricultural advancements and Ghana presenting key opportunities for collaboration.

Discussions between the two countries explored the possibility of barter-based arrangements involving agricultural equipment and raw commodities, a move aimed at strengthening trade ties.

It further identified promising opportunities for value addition in products such as cocoa, cashew, shea butter and emerging crops with Serbia offering Ghana access to the growing global market for diabetic-friendly sugar alternatives.

The meeting established a mutual benefit framework with the action points that were agreed upon to include reciprocal ministerial visits between the ministries of agriculture of Ghana and Serbia, fast-tracking the Feed Ghana implementation across all sectors and hosting a Ghana-Serbia Agritech Business Forum to engage companies and investors.

Seed production

Mr Opoku expressed concern about Ghana’s high dependency on imported seeds and said the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) was implementing a number of interventions to improve capacity to develop high-quality seeds locally and help reduce seed importation

To start with, it has procured seed testing infrastructure to verify seed suitability across the ecological zones of the country.

Also, the ministry has developed partnerships with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), AGRA and Morocco to modernise laboratory infrastructure and support local fertiliser production.

Mr Opoku, therefore, appealed to the Serbian government to assist Ghana in local seed production.

The Agric Minister further disclosed the establishment of farmer service centres in all agricultural districts, to provide smallholders with tractors, inputs and professional extension services to boost productivity.

He said the ministry intended to expand the National Food Buffer Stock Company and build stronger integration between farm production and industrial processing for sustainable value chains.

He mentioned the challenges facing the country’s food and agriculture to include an annual food import bill exceeding $2 billion; soaring food inflation rate of 61 per cent and underutilised arable land despite rich natural resources and labour availability.

Collaboration

Mr ?uri?, for his part, expressed his country’s commitment to deepen collaboration with Ghana across several key areas in the agricultural sector.

He emphasised Serbia’s readiness to support the provision of durable and affordable agricultural machinery and tools, along with the sharing of expertise in biotechnology and seed development.

He also pledged support for initiatives such as agricultural fairs, student exchange programmes and technology transfer.

He said notable achievements in raspberry cultivation, corn seed exports and agricultural machinery production position it as a strategic partner in Ghana’s journey toward agricultural modernisation.