President John Dramani Mahama, has indicated his government’s preparedness to reposition the country’s leading policy and development Bank, the Ghana Export–Import Bank (GEXIM), to play a critical role in transforming the country’s agricultural landscape.
President Mahama gave this assurance at the launch of the “Feed Ghana Programme” last week, in Techiman in the Bono East Region.
The programme is expected to play a crucial role in transforming the country’s agricultural landscape, providing support to farmers to increase production and boost the country’s food security.
During his speech, the President highlighted innovative agricultural financing, stating,
“Financing remains one of the key barriers to agricultural investment. To address this, the Exim Bank will be refocused to offer concessional loans to farmers and agricultural enterprises, especially those involved in export and value addition. The Government will develop agro-processing zones equipped with irrigation, roads, power and warehousing to attract private investment and processing of agricultural produce,” he stated.
The “Feed Ghana Programme” initiative seeks to boost agricultural production to feed the population, provide raw materials to feed agro-processing factories and create jobs for the teeming youth.
It involves sub-projects on vegetables, grains, poultry, oil palm, tubers and other import substitutes to reduce the country’s reliance on imports and transition into an export-heavy economy.
Speaking to a session of the media after the launch of the event, the Acting Chief Executive of GEXIM, Sylvester Mensah, indicated the Bank’s readiness to support the “Feed Ghana Programme” which he said is aligned with the bank’s immediate priorities of increasing food production, supporting agro-processing and investing in projects with high job creation opportunities.
