top ad
Home Blog Page 62

ADB agricultural sector loans hit over 1bn – Managing Director

Photo credit: Food Business Africa

The Managing Director, Alhaji Alhassan Yakubu-Tali has indicated that Agricultural Development Bank’s agricultural sector loan portfolio has hit over GH¢1billion.

The amount excludes non-funded facilities such as letters of credit and guarantees granted for the purchase of agricultural inputs, machinery, equipment and raw materials.

The huge amount of investment over the past few years is part of a strategy to refocus the bank on its original mandate and provide financial intermediation for the agricultural sector.

The Managing Director disclosed this on Thursday, 11th May 2023 when he paid a courtesy call on Minister for Food and Agriculture, Bryan Acheampong (Dr.), to congratulate him on his appointment.

Due to many challenges and increased levels of risk in the agricultural sector, many financial institutions, including banks, usually shy away from investing in the sector. Alhaji Yakubu-Tali however stated that for ADB these challenges present enormous opportunities which the bank will continue to leverage.

He indicated that ADB has positioned itself as the ‘bank of choice’ when it comes to Agricultural financing, which is key in facilitating growth of the economy.

The Managing Director indicated that ADB has been a leader in providing financial support for the nation’s agric sector initiatives: including Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ); Rearing for Food and Jobs (RFJ); Planting for Export and Rural Development (PERD); and the One District-One Factory Initiative (1D1F).

“Under Planting for Food and Jobs and 1DF1, the bank invested over GH¢251.83million to support many viable projects and purchase fertiliser and certified seeds among others. To guarantee food security, the bank between 2018 to date has disbursed more than GH¢460million to NAFCO (Buffer Stock) for purchasing stocks harvested under the PFJ programme to ensure constant food supplies under the Free SHS programme,” he said.

In the fishing sector, the bank – in partnership with the Ministry for Fisheries and Aquaculture Development and Coastal Development Authority – supported the importation of 1,300 Yamaha outboard motors as well as fishing gear for fishers at cost, either under lease-financing or through direct sales. The bank further absorbed all incidental and related costs amounting to about GH¢7million.

ADB also supported Planting for Export and Rural Development, which is a key initiative aimed at promoting perennial/tree crops. The tree-crop sub-sector was supported with a total investment of over GH¢485million for rubber, oil palm, and mango plantations.

Alhaji Alhassan Yakubu-Tali further disclosed that, as a strategy, ADB has partnered with risk-sharing incentive entities like GIRSAL to reduce the bank’s risk burden as it seeks to further grow its investment in the agricultural sector.

He stated that the bank has since 1987 been the lead sponsor of the National Best Farmer Awards, and the sponsorship forms part of its commitment to the Agricultural sector. “The bank’s association and continuous sponsorship of these events over the years is undeniable evidence of its promise to support farmers & fishers and remain focused on its founding mandate to provide financial intermediation for the agricultural sector,” he said.

He assured that the bank will continue partnering government in the quest to ensure food security in Ghana and to achieve all objectives of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture when it comes to agriculture financing and development.

Ad article

An 8-year-old boy dies after drinking alleged poisoned palm wine.

An 8-year-old Boy has met his untimely death after drinking alleged poisoned palm wine at Bantama in the Awutu Senya West District of the Central Region.

Yaw Boagyan indicates that the palm wine Tapper called Kwadee, allegedly put some poisonous substance into his palm wine after noticing that some people have been consistently stealing his palm wine day in and day out.

In an interview with Kasapa News Yaw Boagyan, Auntie of the deceased, Mercy Acquah said she saw the boy screaming for help so she quickly rushed him to Awutu Bontrase Health Center and upon checks they found out that the boy has taken in poisonous substance.

She said medical officers at the facility referred the boy to Winneba Trauma and Specialist Hospital but he unfortunately died on the way.

Mercy Acquah said after examination of the body it was established that the palm wine has been poisoned.

Awutu Bereku Police proceeded to the scene to take a sample of the Palm wine to the Hospital and it was confirmed that all the palm wine on the farm had been poisoned.

Three other minors who accompanied the deceased to the farm said they threw their palm away when they saw somebody coming to the farm but the deceased drunk his, which led to his death.

The body of the deceased has been deposited at the Winneba Specialist and Trauma Hospital Mortuary.

Ad article

Suspected food poisoning: 22 people hospitalised after eating food at funeral.

Twenty-two people from Agou, farming community in the Nkwanta South of the Oti Region have been hospitalised due to an alleged food poisoning.

The victims are said to have suffered acute diarrhea and other symptoms after eating at a funeral on Sunday morning.While 13 of them have been admitted to Nkwanta South Municipal whilst nine others are also on admission at the Nkwanta St. Joseph Catholic Hospital.

The Medical Superintendent of Nkwanta Municipal Hospital, Dr.Theophilus Amoatey, in an interview, revealed that all the victims came with complaints of vomiting and acute diarrhea.

He told Adom News’ Obrempongba Owusu that all patients are responding well to treatment.

According to reports, the victims were served food including porridge, rice, Banku, Meat and Pito a locally brewed drink made from wheat and maize.

He said their samples have been taken to the laboratory for examination whilst a team of disease control management has been deployed to the community for proper investigation.

At St Joseph Catholic Hospital’ the nursing officer, David Amenudzi, and colleagues who were on duty when the victims were admitted, said most of them were not in any life-threatening situation at the time of admission.

However, some of the patients and relatives interviewed from the two hospitals said they ate rice, banku and meat, after which they had diarrhea and severe stomach pain.

Ad article

Success of Planting for Food and Jobs programme under the MoFA audit subsidies is untrue.

The Chamber of Fertiliser Ghana is calling for a thorough audit of the activities of the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) programme.

The call follows a media report which stated that newly appointed Minister for Food and Agriculture, Brian Acheampong has suspended the programme to ascertain the impact of subsidies on fertiliser and seeds supplied to farmers.

In 2022, the Chamber was owed ¢400 million for fertiliser supplied under the programme.

Reacting to the issue, the Chief Executive Officer of the Chamber, Prince Adipah said the figures published by the ministry in the past on the success of the programme did not reflect the true situation on the ground.

“We haven’t really seen the impact of this programme when it comes to the figures that we get to hear” he said.

Mr. Adipah suggested that there is the need to address the issues from the angles of accessibility and cost.

“Issues of accessibility would have helped more for planning sake if importers of fertiliser generally know the demand for the importers to bring in the volume needed”.

He raised concerns that currently, government does not present proper data on the volume of fertiliser consumed since it was purchased under a subsidy programme.

This, he explained could help the importers plan the financial inflow and outflow of the purchase to avert challenges from government buyers.

“We need to know the entire volume that we consume as a nation so that we know what it is”, he stressed.

Mr. Adipah reiterated that there is a need for more engagements between the importers and the government to streamline such activities between the private sector and the public sector.

He assured that there is enough fertilizer currently in the country to supply local farmers.

Ad article

Child labour on farms in Africa: it’s important to make a distinction between what’s harmful, and what isn’t.

Children across the vast expanse of rural Africa hoe, dig, plant, carry, tend livestock, cook, scrub, care for their siblings, and undertake many other farm and domestic tasks. Most of their work is on the farms of parents or relatives, and in most rural communities, learning to work is a normal part of growing up.

Continue
Ad article

The farmgate prices of cocoa rescinded.

The cocoa industry has experienced its second rescindment in farmgate prices over the past five mid-seasons due to global developments, says the March 2023 Cocoa Market Report by the International Cocoa Organisation.

Continue
Ad article

Palm Oil Value Chain: It’s time to embrace global standards, choosing well mapped out strategies to access international market.

The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) with funding from the Swiss Government is implementing the Global Quality and Standards Programme (GQSP) in Ghana with the Palm oil value chain actors to assess the quality awareness utilising the UNIDO developed culture tool.

Continue
Ad article

$710 World Bank loan will improve the country’s food security – Kyei Mensah Bonsu.

The Majority Leader of Parliament, Hon Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu says the recent loan agreements between Ghana and the World Bank will improve the country’s food security.

According to him, some component of the facility seeks to empower farmers in the country to capitalize on the advent of new technologies to provide enough food for the country.

The Member of Parliament for Suame said this in an exclusive interview with OTEC Captain Koda on the Kumasi based OTEC 102.9 FM’s breakfast show Nyansapo on Wednesday.

Parliament on May 3, 2023, held an emergency sitting in which seven loan agreements were approved.

The $750 million loan deal is  to enhance public sector reforms, food security, COVID-19 response measures and digital acceleration agenda.

Among the loan facilities approved are an on-lending agreement between the Government of Ghana (GoG) and the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank Group for an amount of $150 million to finance the West Africa Food System Resilience Programme phase two under the Multipurpose Programme Approach.

Questioning government’s decision to go for additional loans when Ghana is seeking a bailout from the International Monetary Fund IMF, Hon Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu noted that this facility will empower farmers to provide food buffer for the country.

He added that, Ghana needed to build resilient food supply systems to avoid any future food shortage taken cue from other neighboring countries suffering from acute food shortage as result famine and civil wars.

Ad article

Joma, a big tilapia market unknown in Accra.

Joma, a community at Ablekuma in the Ga West Municipality is a big tilapia market in Accra but unknown market for fish mongers and customers.

Recording the activities of the day of the fish farmers, after a long and tiring day, fish farmers now draw closer to the river banks with bountiful harvests of tilapia to serve their longsuffering customers.

Traders and customers rush in with their baskets and bowls to listen to their names being called out by the record keepers so they can have their turn and purchase their fish.

Before the fishes are sold out after harvesting, record keepers would have noted in advance how much each trader or customer intended to purchase.

Nathaniel is a record keeper. According to him, he comes in the morning and records the names of the traders who want to purchase the fish. He gives them a number (as an identity), and when the fish farmers arrive, he calls out the numbers in accordance with first to arrive, and the fish is weighed for the trader.

Tilapia is the main type of fish cultured by most fish farmers at Joma, near Ablekuma in the Ga West Municipality of the Greater Accra region. People from different locations like East Legon, Winneba and Nsawam come to purchase tilapia at Joma. Per their own stories, this has been a great means of survival for most of them.

Vida Baidoo, a young lady who sells tilapia as her business said that she comes from East Legon to buy tilapia because she heard it is less expensive and always fresh at Joma.

Joma is big when it comes to fishing. Its lack of popularity in the recent past has rapidly given way, now attracting people from far and near into the tilapia business.

Richard Amebor has been in the business for the past 12 years and he complains bitterly about the relatively high cost of setting up a fish farming business. Plus, “you also need to have a business heart to do this kind of job”, he said, explaining that because at times you invest in it and you get nothing in return.

According to him, fingerlings cost 20 pesewas each. And there is the cost of constructing ponds, plus feeding. These fingerlings are reared and fed for a duration of five to six months.

In the course of time, some of the fishes die, due to contamination in the river or some other causes. During the rainy seasons, the dam may overflow into the river, killing or carrying some of the fishes.

There is also theft of fishes, which usually occur in the still of the night when everyone retires home to rest. This is why they felt the need to put up a structure and hire guards to protect the fishes at night.

Richard Amebor won the best fisherman in 2020 and repeated the feat in 2022.

He counsels that the fingerlings must be fed three times daily to keep them healthy and strong for a good harvest and return, as well as serve customers with healthy fishes.

Ad article

Fairtrade Africa promotes inclusive cocoa cooperatives in Ghana.

Fairtrade Africa has introduced gender ambassadors under its sustainable, democratic and inclusive cocoa cooperatives in West Africa.

The project aims to directly strengthen 90 beneficiaries and indirectly support 30,000 others from 30 cooperatives in Ghana to assume leadership positions in their cooperatives.

Stakeholders at Fairtrade bemoan poverty and gender inequality challenges in the cocoa sector.

Cooperatives have been identified as essential in solving problems faced by individual farmers.

The women’s school of leadership seeks to empower women and strengthen their leadership in their communities.

The training is intended to solve problems within cocoa cooperatives.

Head of region, West Africa Network, Fair Trade, Edward Akapire, said, “Women’s School of Leadership already has several years of experience in Côte d’Ivoire. But we decided to implement it in Ghana because of the positive impact on women.

He continued that, “The goal of the Women’s Leadership School is to provide women cocoa farmers in Ghana with access to a training and mentoring program that will help them improve their knowledge, confidence and ability to create wealth for a living wage”.

The maiden Women’s School of Leadership and Young Cooperative Managers Academy graduation in Ghana was held in the Ashanti Region.

The graduates were from the Asunafo North Cocoa Cooperative and Kuapa Cocoa Farmers Union.

Programs Director of Fairtrade Africa, Chris Oluoch, reiterated the organization’s commitment to empowering women and the youth.

“Our goal is to do more to empower more women and youth. We are therefore committed and open to partnering with government ministries, departments and agencies, like-minded NGOs, traders, chocolate brands and other commercial brands, as well as the donor community in order to achieve more,” he noted.

Fairtrade is implementing sustainable democratic and inclusiveness in West Africa with funding from NORAD.

It targets women and young people in producer’ organizations.

“This programme has really helped become independent, now I have my own school in my community and the enrollment has been encouraging ,”a beneficiary Dora Atiga said.

Another beneficiary, Linda Apa also noted,” The NORAD project has taught me that, as a woman we’re not limited to the kitchen but we can do more if given the opportunity, I’m grateful for the exposure”.

Ad article
1...616263...179Page 62 of 179
agrictoday.com
Agric Today is a news agency that publishes on Agric and provides vivid update of news and analysis on topical issues of national and international importance in Agriculture. The agency also analyses sectoral issues involving news on Agri business, Crops, Animals etc
Facebook Instagram Twitter WhatsApp

POPULAR POSTS

POPULAR CATEGORY

© 2023 Agrictoday.com.gh