The Development Bank Ghana (DBG) has disclosed key outcomes from its recent multi-stakeholder value chain workshops held across the country. The workshops generated extensive insights and proposed transformative recommendations to bolster Ghana’s pursuit of food security and other economic benefits.
Speaking at the DBG Value Chain Dissemination Workshop, Dr. Kwabena Opuni-Frimpong, DBG’s Chief Economist, emphasized the bank’s goal to achieve consensus with stakeholders and partners for the effective implementation of recommendations. The collaborative approach employed by DBG involves ongoing communication and collaboration with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) for the next phase, guided by a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). Notably, 13 out of 29 identified SMEs from the workshops have already entered the pipeline with participating financial institutions (PFIs).
DBG’s partnership with the Ghana Commodity Exchange (GCX) involves accepted recommendations, focusing on operational aspects. The bank, along with key partners, aims to address food security concerns, given Ghana’s 83rd ranking out of 115 countries on the Global Food Security Index in 2022.
The workshops revealed critical issues in key food supply chains, including maize, soya, poultry, and rice. The five-year strategic plan involves mapping the value chain, identifying SMEs, undertaking policy reforms, addressing financing needs, and outlining an implementation framework. The workshops identified over 13 development partners operating in the four value chains, allowing DBG to pinpoint critical gaps.
Under “financing,” DBG projected a total requirement of US$1.04 billion over five years, with US$686 million identified, leaving a financing gap of US$354 million. The Ghana Commodity Exchange (GCX) is estimated to require a seed capital of about US$200 million.
DBG’s six pillars for implementation include production-related recommendations, aggregation, warehousing, storage and trading, agro-processing, policy advocacy, and capacity building. The recommendations aim to address bottlenecks in rice, maize, soya, and poultry value chains, including the establishment of an input credit system, GCX subsidiary for post-harvest losses, and technology adoption for production advancement.
DBG is committed to working with stakeholders to secure funding and implement the recommendations, contributing to Ghana’s agricultural development and economic growth.
Comments are closed.