The agricultural sector deserves credits, not subject to more risks than others – Head of the AFT Fund

Company News of Friday, April 19, 2019

Source: goldstreetbusiness.com

2019-04-19

Dr. Jonas Chianu, AFT fund coordinator at AfDB, observed that while commercial banks are tired of offering credit to farmers citing significant concerns, the agricultural sector is not unstable nor exposed at the risk of competing sectors such as mining, manufacturing or services.

He added that the pbadive fear of banks, which is unfounded and yet facilitated in the agricultural sector, has received only 4% credit in 2018 for agriculture, fishing and related activities, while the other sectors received significant credits.

To address this anomaly, the African Development Bank (AfDB) is confident that a new grant of US $ 23 million granted under the Fast Track Agriculture Implementation Fund will greatly contribute to improve some aspects of Ghana's agriculture value chain from production to market. rural feeder roads to irrigation, agricultural processing and marketing facilities, as well as amenities for non-wage producers.

The funds, which will benefit 17 new projects in 8 countries, should be used for feasibility studies, market badyzes and studies of environmental and social impact, among others, to contribute to the development of new projects. a strong portfolio of agricultural infrastructure projects that could be funded.

The Accelerated Agriculture Fund (AFT Fund), custodian of the $ 23 million grant provided by the governments of Denmark (through DANIDA), the United States Government (through the 39; USAID) and Sweden (through AIDS), is managed by Agriculture and Agro Department of Industry of the African Development Bank.

Of the 17 small and medium-sized agri-food companies receiving the subsidy, Ghana and Tanzania each had the largest number of four beneficiaries; Burkina Faso, Malawi and Mozambique had both, while Ethiopia, Nigeria and Senegal had only one. .

The 17 beneficiaries Small and medium-sized agribusinesses should receive between USD 100,000 and USD 1,5 million for their feasibility studies.

Tamanaa Company Limited received US $ 220,000 to invest in rice production and processing, while Farmline Limited Ghana received US $ 165,000 for warehouse and industrial food processing.

Philafrica Foods Limited received $ 195,000 for a corn plant and integrated poultry production, while Techiman Processing Complex Limited had $ 160,000 for a transformation of the tomato supply chain.