President John Dramani Mahama has called for greater self-reliance in food production following the Trump administration's closure of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), a move that has left Ghana facing a $156 million revenue shortfall.
Speaking at a roundtable discussion at the Munich Security Conference, Mahama emphasized the need for Ghana and the African continent to shift away from dependence on foreign aid and instead invest in local food production and trade infrastructure.
In his remarks, Mahama framed the USAID suspension as an opportunity rather than a crisis, urging African nations to focus on increasing agricultural output to ensure food security. "If that aid stops coming, we would do the investments that are necessary to make our farmers more productive so that we can establish food security in Africa instead of waiting for those USAID handouts to come." Mahama highlighted the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) as a vital step toward economic independence, noting that most African nations have already ratified the protocol.
He stressed the importance of developing infrastructure to facilitate intra-African trade, which has long been constrained by colonial-era trade patterns that prioritized exports to Europe over regional exchange. "We need to develop the infrastructure to exchange goods amongst ourselves.
