At the Ghana Tree Crops 2026 Investment Summit and Exhibition, a bold call was made for a strategic transformation of the country’s tree crop sector — one that moves beyond raw exports toward value addition, financial inclusion and data-driven industrialisation.
Delivering a presentation under the summit’s theme, “Resetting and Building Ghana’s Green Economy,” Yusuke Sunagawa, Technical Lead for ADVASA Japan, outlined a technology-driven roadmap aimed at modernising Ghana’s agricultural value chain.
Addressing dignitaries, Mr. Sunagawa emphasised the urgent need for Ghana to diversify its tree crop sector.
“For too long, the wealth of Ghana’s trees has been exported as raw material,” he noted, referencing recent remarks by the Asantehene that cocoa alone can no longer sustain the country’s economic ambitions.
The message was clear: diversification requires more than planting new crops — it demands robust systems that support production, processing, financing and market protection.
Central to the proposal is the NBTS (Non-Blockchain Token System), a digital infrastructure designed to track transactions across the tree crops value chain.
The system is being managed in Ghana by ROYVIA PLUS International Limited, which is overseeing its implementation across Africa.
According to Mr. Sunagawa, NBTS will serve as the “digital backbone” for Ghana’s green industrial reset by tracking transactions among farmers, aggregators and processors.
The goal is to transition the sector from fragmented and informal trading systems to a more structured, transparent and industrialised economy.
He linked the initiative to President John Mahama’s target of processing 60 percent of Ghana’s tree crops locally, a move aimed at boosting value addition and job creation.
A key focus of the presentation was financial inclusion, particularly for women and smallholder farmers who dominate key segments of the sector.
Currently, an estimated 90 percent of shea processors and a large share of oil palm workers are women and smallholders who remain largely “financially invisible,” lacking documented production histories that banks require for credit access.
Through NBTS integration with digital wallet platforms such as MTN Ghana, farmers would receive instant payments while simultaneously building verifiable digital records of their transactions and output.
“With a verified production history, farmers can demonstrate their credibility to financial institutions and access loans to scale their operations,” Mr. Sunagawa explained.
Beyond financial access, the system is also designed to safeguard Ghana’s local markets. Illegal and smuggled agricultural products that bypass taxes continue to threaten legitimate producers.
By enabling only verified goods within the digital system to be traded, NBTS could help protect local farmers from unfair competition and revenue losses.
As Ghana charts its course toward 2030, stakeholders at the summit agreed that building a competitive, value-added tree crop sector will require innovation, strong policy backing and reliable data systems.
He concluded with a call to action:
“Let us reset the system, build the data and empower every farmer to be a driver of Ghana’s green industrial revolution.”
If implemented effectively, proponents say the proposed digital framework could mark a turning point, transforming Ghana’s tree crops sector from a raw commodity exporter into a data-driven engine of inclusive green growth.
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