Agric Ministry bridges funding gap with new model

Farmers in the country should be able to secure increased credit from banks with the coming on board of the Ghana Incentive Based Risk Sharing Agricultural Lending (GIRSAL).

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, GIRSAL which will be rolled out this year is meant to serve as an incentive for banks to increase their lending to players in the agricultural sector.

Farmers have over the years lamented over the unwillingness of banks to loan to them stating high risk as a factor.

Poultry farmers have been the latest group of farmers to complain about their difficulty in accessing funds to sustain their operations.

A situation, they say have made them contemplate setting up their own bank.

The situation that these farmers go through has left many of them unable to expand their operations and also serves as a disincentive for new entrants into the sector.

In an interview with Citi Business News, Director of the Animal Production Directorate and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Kwamina Arkorful said farmers would greatly benefit from the initiative.

“The Bank of Ghana and the Ministry of Agriculture are trying to create a fund that will cause the banks to give loans to support agriculture so that in case there is some problem, it will be shared between the fund and the bank”

He explained that the fund will serve as an incentive for banks to increase funding to farmers.

“So it is something that is going to provide an incentive for the bank, it is yet to be rolled out but we are expecting it to be rolled out this year”.

He added, “It’s something like an agriculture insurance but what is going to happen is that are going to deal with the banks to support agriculture  in case there is some problem then the risk is shared”.

By: Anita Arthur/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana