GHANA: South Africa's Standard Bank to provide 100 million US dollars over three years for loans to small farms and agricultural businesses in four African countries

Record ID: 455217

  • Title: GHANA: South Africa's Standard Bank to provide 100 million US dollars over three years for loans to small farms and agricultural businesses in four African countries
  • Date: 20th March 2009
  • Summary: ACCRA, GHANA (MARCH 18, 2008) (REUTERS) KOFI ANNAN, CHAIRMAN, ALLIANCE FOR A GREEN REVOLUTION (AGRA), AND OTHER OFFICIALS WALKING INTO CONFERENCE HALL. CAMERAMEN FILMING ANNAN (SOUNDBITE) (English) KOFI ANNAN, CHAIRMAN, ALLIANCE FOR A GREEN REVOLUTION (AGRA), SAYING: "While credit is frozen worldwide, I don't think Africa needs to sit back, sit on its hands. Today, we are harnessing our own expertise and resources to catalyse smart, sustainable agriculture development that will put good food on the table of millions of Africans. This loan programme combines the power of partnerships with an innovative financing mechanism, designed by AGRA and its partners to mitigate the risks facing commercial banks in lending to the agricultural sector, which is dominated as I said earlier by women farmers." OFFICIALS LISTENING TO ANNAN (SOUNDBITE) (English) KWESI AHWOI, GHANA MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE, SAYING "Everything that AGRA is planning to do, from credit to farm inputs, through improved seeds etc. is exactly what we in the Ministry of Agriculture in Ghana have been looking forward to doing, except that we haven't had it in a holistic package, but AGRA is coming up with that holistic package." (*** FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY ***) OFFICIALS SIGNING DOCUMENTS OFFICIALS SHAKING HANDS ANNAN TALKING TO AHWOI
  • Embargoed: 4th April 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Ghana
  • Country: Ghana
  • Topics: International Relations,Finance
  • Reuters ID: LVA8DN8QHW0U4WMP8LA5923Q7AEN
  • Story Text: South Africa's Standard Bank will provide 100 million US dollars over three years for loans to small farms and agricultural businesses in four African countries, the bank said in a statement on Wednesday (March 18).
    Under the deal, announced in Ghana, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), whose board is chaired by former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, will provide a 10 million US dollar loan guarantee fund to enable loans to businesses previously considered too risky for lending, the bank also said.

    "While credit is frozen worldwide, I don't think Africa needs to sit back, sit on its hands. Today, we are harnessing our own expertise and resources to catalyse smart, sustainable agriculture development that will put good food on the table of millions of Africans. This loan programme combines the power of partnerships with an innovative financing mechanism, designed by AGRA and its partners to mitigate the risks facing commercial banks in lending to the agricultural sector, which is dominated as I said earlier by women farmers," Annan said.
    Like many other African governments, Ghana has had to postpone some development projects due to the global credit crunch, so it welcomes the AGRA initiative.

    "Everything that AGRA is planning to do, from credit to farm inputs, through improved seeds etc. is exactly what we in the Ministry of Agriculture in Ghana have been looking forward to doing, except that we haven't had it in a holistic package, but AGRA is coming up with that holistic package," said Kwesi Ahwoi, Ghana's Agriculture Minister.
    Farmers across Africa regularly complain of the rising costs of inputs like fertilizer and the lack of access to affordable loans.

    "If I have the funds, I can expand my farm, I can pay my children's school fees, I can look after my family well," said Simms Larbi, a farmer in Nwasam, eastern Ghana who grows cassava, plantain and pinapples.
    Ghana's farmers are also asking the government to assist in locating markets for their produce.

    "At the end of the day, the farmer wants his or her product to be marketed. If after production, you don't have somebody to buy your fruit, it will go waste. For instance look at this one, its going waste. Assuming we have buyers, somebody will definitely come and buy this one. So we will expect them to get us with buyers," added Gamson Samuel, another pineapple farmer.
    Annan has called the global crisis "the economic equivalent of a Tsunami" and says private sector partnerships like the Standard Bank deal will provide the means for small-scale farmers to increase production.
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