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The agricultural sector is to receive a big boost following the government’s move to establish a GH¢500 million facility to support the growth and development of the sector, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has said.

The facility is to serve as some sort of insurance for the commercial banks to give out loans at reasonable rates to farmers, he added.

Known as the Ghana Incentive Based Risk Sharing Agricultural Lending Scheme, the President said the facility, which would be managed by the Bank of Ghana, was targeted at reducing risks of investments and promoting agriculture financing.

President Akufo-Addo was speaking at the 2018 Africa Green Revolution Forum, a platform for global and African leaders to develop actionable plans that will move African agriculture forward, in Kigali, Rwanda last Saturday.

Other panel members at the forum were the President of Rwanda, Mr Paul Kagame; Deputy President of Kenya, Mr William Ruto, and the Prime Minister of Gabon, Mr Emmanuel Issoze-Ngodet.

Attitude

Apart from the government working assiduously to solve the financial constraint, the President said another issue that needed attention was people’s attitude towards agriculture, which he observed was an issue that needed to be addressed systematically.

 “People still continue to look upon agriculture as something that people who don’t have anything else to do engage in; something to escape from and not something that will provide a good life which will make an important contribution to the development of society,” he said.

 Growth

Giving a brief account of agricultural growth in Ghana, the President said between 2014 and 2016, Ghana’s agriculture witnessed an average growth of 2.5 per cent over the period.

He said in 2014, Ghana’s agriculture grew at 4.65 per cent, while in 2015, the sector recorded  2.78 per cent and sightly inched up to 2.95 per cent in 2016.