The chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee, on Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs, Mr. Kwame Asafu Agyei, has expressed worry over Agricultural Development Bank’s (adb) inability to reliably assist farmers in their business.
According to Mr. Asafu Agyei, the act that establishes the Bank was clear and specific on its objective, but it seems it has shirked from its core mandates and the law that established it.
He said ‘the adb bank, was not established to do commercial banking but was to offer credit facility to farmers in the country to boost their yield and keep them in business.’
The bank appears to have now commercialized it activities and farmers are no longer benefiting from its credit facilities, a situation he described as worrying.
He, therefore, recommended to the government to ensure that the bank to sticks to its core mandate.
Mr. Asafu Agyei, who is also a Member of Parliament for Nsuta Beposo Kwamang Constituency in the Ashanti region, said these while addressing some stakeholders of the agricultural sector at the ‘National Stakeholders’ Dialogue on Agriculture financing in Ghana,’ organized by USAID Feed the Future and facilitated by SEND-GHANA.
The legislator asserted that there is the need for industry players to channel all resources in making agriculture the best amongst all sectors of the economy.
He bemoaned the lack of assiduity offered to make the sector robust one, by both previous administrations.
He also appealed to farmer-based organizations to form cooperative associations to keep them going and proposed the establishment of cooperative small micro finance, to be owned by the farmers since adb is not serving the interest of the farmers.
“Let’s believe in ourselves that we have the capacity to do it and establish your own micro finance, in India they do it and why can’t we do it in Ghana, so that we can access loans from next year and stop depending on commercial banks for loans.”
“Unfortunately, the only farmer’s bank that we have, adb, they are not serving the interest of farmers anymore and my committee will invite the bank to come and explain to us, because, this is to me is a farmers bank.
Mr. Asafu Agyei said the bank should consider the interest of farmers, to sustain the economy of Ghana using agriculture.
Excerpt from Hon. Kwame Asafu Adjei
