Ghana Links Greenhouse Production to Cold Storage and Air-Cargo Export Routes

Ghana is building a structured cold-chain and export-logistics framework that connects greenhouse and micro-irrigated crop production to aggregation centres, cold storage, processing, and air-cargo export routes. The initiative is anchored in the government's 24-hour economy programme and was outlined at the opening of the 14th Ghana Garden and Flower Show.

From cultivation to cold storage

Presidential Advisor on the 24-hour Economy, Augustus "Goosie" Obuadum Tanoh, stressed that horticultural cultivation must be supported by finance, standards, skills, technology, and market access. He noted that growing produce alone does not constitute an industry.

The government's peri-urban agricultural programme, Shiqpon, is designed to link greenhouses and micro-irrigated crop cultivation with aggregation points, cold storage facilities, and downstream markets.

Export logistics and the cut-flower corridor

A key element of the export strategy is the Tamale Air Cargo Hub, which is intended to strengthen logistics for high-value agricultural exports in the cut-flower, vegetable, and fruit value chains.

The 24-hour Economy Secretariat is working with a private-sector investor on a cut-flower corridor along the Daboya-Singa pathway. Flowers grown in that corridor are to be transported through the Tamale Air Cargo Hub to markets in Europe, Ghana and West Africa, the Gulf, and other destinations.

Tanoh pointed to Kenya's flower sector as a benchmark: Kenya generated US$556 million from flower exports last year. By comparison, Ghana exported around US$75 million worth of mangoes to 42 markets in 2024. He also noted that domestic demand for horticultural products, including flowers, exists in Ghana, yet the country continues to import products that could be grown locally.

Volta Economic Corridor

The government's broader plans include the Volta Economic Corridor, which is intended to connect agricultural cultivation, industrial development, and logistics along Volta Lake. The corridor carries a net-zero objective built on renewable energy, climate-smart farming, land and water use, ecological restoration, and reductions in waste and emissions.