Ghana has received a €2.5million funding from the European Union (EU) to boost the country’s agriculture sector.
The fund will be managed by the Sinapi Aba Savings & Loans (SASL), a non-banking financial institution providing loans and savings products to individuals and Micro-Small-Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) with a focus on rural areas and women. It will aid farmer’s access to credit facilities to finance their agricultural production and businesses in the agricultural value chain within the next six years.
EU Ghana Agricultural Programme
Mrs Paulina Rozycka, the Head of the Infrastructure and Sustainable Development of the EU Delegation to Ghana, said the credit facility would provide access to finance to more farmers as part of the grand EU support in the agriculture sector under the EU Ghana Agricultural Programme (EU-GAP).
“This line of credit will increase the number of smallholders (in the agricultural value chain) benefitting from loans and financial products by more than 25,000 borrowers.More farmers will now benefit from small loans to finance agricultural inputs or equipment with technical assistance”, she explained.
Agriculture in Ghana consists of a variety of agricultural products and is an established economic sector, providing employment on a formal and informal basis. It is represented by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture. Ghana produces a variety of crops in various climatic zones which range from dry savanna to wet forest which run in east–west bands across Ghana. Agricultural crops, including yams, grains, cocoa, oil palms, kola nuts, and timber, form the base of agriculture in Ghana’s economy. In 2013 agriculture employed 53.6% of the total labor force in Ghana
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