GHANA – Agricultural Development Bank (ADB), Ghana’s leading commercial bank with focus on Agriculture has disbursed financing worth GH¢23 million (US$3.9m) to six companies in the poultry value chain through its Poultry Value Chain Financing Programme (PVCFP).
This is the first tranche of funds from the bank’s GH¢500-million (US$86.5m) package aimed to support the local poultry industry to increase production in a bid to reduce the country’s reliance on imports.
According to a report by Ghanaian Times, the facility is being rolled out in partnership with the Bank of Ghana, Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Ghana-Incentive-Based-Risk-Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (GIRSAL) and Outgrower and Value Chain Fund (OVCF).
Speaking at the ADB Poultry Value Chain Stakeholders’ meeting, the Managing Director of ADB, Dr John Kofi Mensah highlighted that PVCFP supports the government’s Broiler Revitalisation Programme, which is also meant to increase the domestic production of poultry.
According to him, the local poultry industry held the key to addressing the perennial depreciation of the local currency if efforts were made to revamp the industry and increase local production of poultry.
“The Poultry Industry has the propensity to stabilise the cedi and boost the growth of the Ghanaian economy,” Dr Mensah stated.
Dr Mensah highlighted that the country needs to produce 400,000 metric tonnes of meat annually to meet the country’s meat needs, but the players in the industry can only produce 57,871 metric tonnes, leaving a huge deficit.
Ghana annually imports more than US$370 million worth of poultry products to meet the shortfall in demand, which is putting pressure on the local currency.
The PVCFP supports all the players in the poultry value chain including hatcheries, producers, feed millers, processors and marketers.
One of the major ways the bank is offering its support is by issuing interest rate less that 10% to players in the poultry value chain.
The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto commended ADB for the role it was playing to support the government’s Planting for Food and Jobs and the Rearing for Food and Jobs Programmes.
The minister entreated the beneficiaries of the ADB PVCFP to pay back the loans to ensure the success of the programme.
Liked this article? Subscribe to Food Business Africa News, our regular email newsletters with the latest news insights from Africa and the World’s food and agro industry. SUBSCRIBE HERE
