The Minister of Agriculture has assured that the problem of inadequate funding of the sector will soon be addressed. Access to funds has been one of the biggest challenges faced by farmers. The farmers complain that whilst financial institutions are unwilling to give them loans, the interest rates they pay on the little they get is very high. Experts say the trend is worrying especially for a key sector such as agriculture which until recently was the largest contributor to national income. Kwesi Ahwoi however tells Joy Business the establishment of the Agric Development Fund in the 2011 budget will make credit more accessible to farmers. He says the fund will provide the incentive the banks need to extend more funds to the sector and at a much lesser rate. “I believable that by the end of this month when we go through Parliament you will see the approval being given to the establishment of the Agric Development Fund which is going to be part of the export development fund. “...We are merging those two funds into one,” he said adding, this will provide perpetual flow of money to the banks which will be given out as credits to farmers. Commercial banks’ lending to the sector is said to have dropped from about 15 percent in the 1990s to about 3 per cent as at last year. The banks argue that they are unable to advance that much credit to agriculture because of the unwilling nature of most farmers to pay back loans. This attitude adds to a business already regarded as high risk. Source: Joy Business/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana