Nana Addo Worried Over Poor Agric Financing3 min read

According to him, the percentage allocations dedicated to supporting farmers are woefully inadequate, hence the need for the financial sector to fashion out strategies to help solve the insufficient loans given to farmers for agriculture production.

He called on financing institutions working with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) and other agricultural-related agencies to desist from the poor agricultural credit culture practiced by many and find modules to help move the country’s subsistence type of farming to productive farming for food security.

“…These are the same pageant farmers who have built the biggest industry thus the cocoa industry which for years has kept us going. The farmers have the ability and willingness to work and should not be taken for granted,” he added.

President Akufo-Addo made these comments yesterday at the Presidential Breakfast Meeting on Agriculture and Agribusiness Financing held in Accra.

Data from financial institutions supporting the agricultural sector revealed that the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) provides 20.4% of their loan portfolio towards agricultural financing, Fidelity Bank 10%, Opportunity International provides 27% to 2,200 farmers as against 3.5 million farmers in the country.

The Ghana Commercial Bank on the other hand contributes a percentage of 25% of its loans to the development of the agric sector.

This according to President Akufo-Addo is woefully inadequate in achieving the agenda of making the country food self-sufficient.

“The country has been the second largest economy by GDP size in West Africa, if these figures were to rise up a little bit it will bring real  transformation to our GDP growth. We need to look at that and you are the correct people to look at it,” he told the bankers.

On his part, the Minister for Food and Agriculture, Bryan Acheampong, stated that the sector for years now has been faced with challenges relating to financing leading to low productivity records.

This includes access to credit for the procurement of seeds and fertilizers, agriculture machinery, and working capital.

“The solution to the major challenge that we have identified as impeding the growth of the agriculture sector is credit, and it is in the hands of the people who make the decision to finance agriculture,” he noted.

As part of the government’s effort to change the fortunes of farmers, Mr. Acheampong said his ministry has changed course by reviewing the PFJ program and transforming it into an input credit system.

In the PFJ 5-year plan under poultry, the ministry seeks to move from 5% self-sufficiency to 7% by the end of 2023 and to 13% in 2024, and progressively attain full self-sufficiency of 110.6% by 2028.

In the immediate term (October to December 2023), the ministry will supply 4.5 million day-old chicks, vaccines, and starter-pack feed to anchor farmers and their out-growers to achieve the set target.

Similarly, for rice, the Minister said they were rolling out specific interventions to increase local production and reduce import levels. The national target is to attain self-sufficiency in 2028 with a total paddy production of 3.31 million MT (equivalent to 1.82 million MT of milled rice).

“In appreciation of the agricultural reconstruction that we have set in motion, Phase 2 of the PFJ will be the single biggest agricultural revolution in this country, and we believe that Ghana will achieve food security and be resilient in the same through this singular program of government”, he added.