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Geography

Located on the West African coast, Ghana has an area of about 240,000 km2 . The population is more than 20 million and is growing at a rate of 1.9 per cent per year. The climate is warm and comparatively dry along the south-east coast, hot and humid in the south-west, hot and dry in the north. Ghana was the first country in colonial Africa to become independent. It has an abundance of natural resources, including gold, timber, industrial diamonds, bauxite, manganese, fish, rubber and hydropower.

Agriculture

The economy has traditionally depended heavily on the agricultural sector. Agriculture accounts for more than 40 per cent of GDP (2004 estimate) and employs 60 per cent of the total labour force of about 9 million people.

Only about 12 per cent of the total land area is cultivated, and agriculture is almost exclusively rainfed. About 2.7 million subsistence-level farms, averaging 1.2 ha in size, account for 80 per cent of agricultural production. Small farmers produce most of Ghana's cocoa, the country's major agricultural export. Root and tuber crops occupy an important niche in agriculture because they are grown by small-scale farmers both for food and as a cash crop. Between 1991 and 2003 cassava production rose sharply, almost doubling after the introduction of high-yield varieties.

Economy

Ghana is a low-income, food deficit country. In 2003, gross domestic product (GDP) was US$7.7 billion. Real GDP growth was 4.5 per cent in 2002, 5.2 per cent in 2003 and was expected to reach 5.8 per cent in 2004. In 2003 Ghana 's average per capita income was US$310 — one of the lowest in the region and far below the World Bank indicator for a low-income country.

Source: IFAD