Ghana plans to import 3,000 farm machines from Belarus in 2026
The shipment forms part of a wider plan to expand farm machinery use and raise food output.
GHANA – Ghana plans to import 3,000 units of farm machinery from Belarus in 2026 as the government pushes to increase the use of machines in agriculture and improve farm output.
The Belarusian state news agency BelTA reported the plan on March 9, citing Belarus Foreign Minister Maxim Ryzhenkov. The shipment will include tractors, seeders, ploughs and other farm tools.
Ghana relies heavily on agriculture. The sector provides about 21 percent of the country’s gross domestic product and gives work to close to 35 percent of the population.
“We see strong cooperation with Ghana in the field of agricultural machinery and training,” Ryzhenkov said. “The plan includes equipment supply as well as support services that will help local operators maintain and use the machines.”
Mechanization push
The equipment deal forms part of a broader plan by Ghana to increase the number of machines used in farming. The government wants to deploy more than 4,000 units of agricultural machinery and equipment across 50 districts in 2026.
Officials will carry out this plan through the Farmer Service Centres initiative and the Feed Ghana Initiative program for the 2025 to 2028 period. The program forms part of the country’s food security strategy.
Authorities plan to build 50 integrated farm service centres across the country. These centres will give farmers shared access to tractors and other equipment. They will also provide farm inputs and technical support.
President John Dramani Mahama confirmed that the government will open the first 11 centres in 2026.
“These centres will help farmers gain access to modern tools and practical support,” Mahama said in remarks delivered on November 11, 2025. “We want farmers to produce more food and raise their income.”
Despite these efforts, machine use in Ghana’s farming sector remains low. A study released in 2022 found that about 78 percent of farm work in the country still relies on manual labour.
Wider trend in Africa
Several African countries now plan similar efforts to expand farm mechanization.
Tanzania recently launched a national plan for agricultural mechanization covering the 2026 to 2036 period. Prime Minister Mwigulu Nchemba announced the plan during the African Conference on Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization in Dar es Salaam.
The Tanzanian government plans to acquire 10,000 tractors and establish 1,000 local machinery service centres. Recent government data show tractor use in the country has already increased in recent years, with the number of small tractors rising from 8,883 in 2019 to 15,633 in 2024.
Officials say these steps should help farmers use more land and raise production, since large areas of arable land in Tanzania remain unused today.
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