President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has called on financial institutions to increase their support for the agriculture and agribusiness sector in Ghana, expressing concern over the inadequate credit facilities provided to the industry.
He emphasized that boosting financial support to agriculture would contribute to the country’s GDP growth.
The President’s remarks were made during a panel discussion at the second Presidential breakfast meeting on agriculture and agribusiness financing in Accra.
The event brought together chief executives of financial institutions and other stakeholders to explore opportunities for resource mobilization in support of the agricultural sector through collaborative efforts between the sector and financial institutions.
President Akufo-Addo highlighted the insufficient allocation of loan portfolios to the agricultural sector by various financial institutions. For example, ADB Bank provided only 24% of its loans to agriculture, while Fidelity Bank allocated 10%, Ghana Commercial Bank 25%, and Opportunity International, a savings and loans company, disbursed about 27% of its loans to 22,000 farmers.
The President noted that the allocation of loans to the sector fell short of addressing the industry’s needs, given that there are 3.5 million farmers in Ghana.
President Akufo-Addo praised the hardworking nature of farmers and stressed the importance of financial institutions supporting them to enhance their capacity and productivity.
The Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Brian Acheampong, discussed the transformation of the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) program into an input credit system.
He urged financial institutions to align their strategies with the national development agenda, emphasizing that a change in approach was necessary to achieve different results.
In the poultry sector, the intervention is expected to result in an additional 13,200 metric tonnes of poultry meat by the end of the year, increasing self-sufficiency to seven percent. The minister also revealed plans to rehabilitate 300 outgrower poultry farms across the country over the next 12 months. Additionally, he mentioned efforts to attain self-sufficiency in rice production by 2028, with a target of 3.31 million metric tonnes of paddy production. These developments indicate a commitment to strengthening the agricultural sector in Ghana through increased financial support and strategic interventions.
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