Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) has signed a concessionary loan agreement of 17.7 million euro with the Agence Francaise de Development (AFD) for the final phase of the Rubber out-grower plantation project.

The non-sovereign loan facility which forms part of the implementation of phase 5 of a rubber out-grower project instituted 20 years ago is aimed at cultivating over 8 thousand hectors of rubber for export.

Speaking with Joy Business, Resident Manager of afd Amelie July said her firm is now lending directly to the bank in order to free government of its mounting debts.

About 2,600 out-grower farmers in over 400 communities in 33 districts across three regions in Ghana are expected to benefit from this facility. Thirty Percent (30%) of the targeted beneficiaries will be women. Beyond the actual rubber plantations, 2,600 beneficiaries will also cultivate around a thousand hectares of food crops to contribute to food security.

She said the institution is delighted to be funding out-growers to plant and effectively tap rubber trees.

“We started with 3 phases with the help of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture so that 3 sovereign loans and then we started to do non-sovereign loans with phase 4 and this phase that we’ve signed today – phase 5, we’ve lend directed to the bank so that in return they can effectively finance the rubber out-growers” she added. Ms. July indicated that the agency did not involve government in the funding as part of efforts to avoid extra debt on the government.

At peak, the beneficiaries are expected to produce on average 19,000 tons of dry rubber annually. It will significantly contribute to poverty alleviation through increased incomes for the beneficiary farmers. It will also contribute to the improvement of the environment through carbon sequestration.

The project which began in 1995 for the Financing of tree crops like rubber and oil palm under the “program for the promotion of perennial crops in Ghana” has seen the implementation of five different phases of rubber and two different phases of oil palm cultivation by growers.

The Phase I of the project named Rubber Out-grower Plantations Project (ROPP I) was co-financed by the Government of Ghana, Agence Française de Développement and the World Bank. The ROPP I saw the development of 1,200 ha of rubber plantation for 400 outgrower farmers within the Western Region.

The Phase II of the Project (ROPP II) involved 500 new outgrower farmers cultivating 2,855 ha of rubber and was co-financed by the Government of Ghana and AFD from year 2000 to 2003.

Phase IV of the Project (2010-2012) involved a direct (Non-Sovereign) financing from afd to Agricultural Development Bank without government involvement and resulted in the cultivation of 10,700 hectares of rubber by 2,800 outgrower farmers.

The implementation of these projects has increased the rubber plantations in Ghana from about 10,000 hectares in 1995 to about 57,000 in 2015. The five different Phases of the ROPP has contributed about 29,000 hectares of rubber by 7,783 farmers since its implementation.