The Deputy Agric Minister has called on the private sector especially the banks to rethink their position of limiting support to the agricultural sector because of its perceived high-risk.

Dr Alhassan Ahmed Yakubu said banks are reluctant to lend to agriculture because they believe the risk factor is overwhelming and that the monies they hold belong to shareholders hence, cannot expose it to so much risk.

Speaking at the maiden JOY BUSINESS BUSY TALKS Tuesday, he urged both government and the private sector to strategically collaborate in financing to grow the agricultural sector.

The discussions were done in a frank and open atmosphere among panel members and participants. The panel was made up of Deputy Agricultural Minister, Dr Alhassan Ahmed Yakubu, Dr Charles Tortoe of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), David Asiamah of Agri-business firm – Agro Mindset, Selorm Branttie with M-Pedigree and Dr William Baah Boateng of the African Center for Economic Transformation.

They dissected the challenges confronting the value chain of the agricultural sector right from production to marketing and sales.

"That is why the ingenious ways of getting the central banks to leverage the commercial banks in terms of risk is good but we need to also get the financial institutions to actually change their perception about agriculture," he added.

Dr Yakubu was emphatic that for the Agric sector to be a success, they would need financial support from the banks.

He, therefore charged the financial institutions to provide the farmers with the needed funding "because it’s sometimes not the best if you have the technology, the naturals resources, the know-how" without the funds to see them through.

An issue of scaling-up becomes a problem simply because the entrepreneur, or the farmer or the agri-business person does not have the requisite credit to invest," Dr Yakubu said.

Dr. Ahmed Yakubu Alhassan

CEO of CTA Engineering Kwame Amoakohene, a participant was particularly not happy about what he described as the lack of linkages in the value chain.

"We have a lot of work to do as a country for agriculture starting for the production, harvesting, manufacture, among others. It’s a very big sector that if you want to be able to come out very well, we should be able to put in place policies that would help the sector grow," Mr Amoakohene

"For instance, when it comes to production, we need to know what would help us maximize the effort, etc. The link between manufacturing companies and those who provide raw materials should be critically looking at to address the challenges of post-harvest losses," he added. 

Dr Charles Tortoe

Strategic Director for Technology firm, M-Pedigree, Selorm Branttie emphasized the need for effective collaboration between government and the private sector to harness opportunities in the sector to the benefit of the economy.

"It’s about time we started looking at the agricultural sector very well and open it up in such a way that people will not see it as a cutlass and hoe kind of activity but more as a business activity that has input and output just as any business activity," Mr Brantie said.

He added that "We are not doing enough even though we have the capacity to do more. We should be willing to do more and be able to tweak our perceptions about what agriculture is and engage other stakeholders in making agriculture far smarter and better than it is right now."

Dr Baah Boateng

The sector if taken seriously could experience a boost in marketability which will eventually bring in substantial foreign exchange an very good income for farmers. The ultimate benefit would be a growth in agriculture’s contribution to Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

David Asiamah

The event organized by JOY BUSINESS in partnership with BUSY brought together agriculture industry players to deliberate on how agribusiness could become the game changer for the economy.