The Chief Operating Officer of GIRSAL Ltd, Samuel Yeboah, has called for affordable and accessible financing for smallholder farmers, while urging stakeholders in the agricultural sector to strengthen technical support for farmers and agribusinesses.

Speaking at the Ecobank-JoyNews Financial Dialogue on September 22, on the theme “Green Finance, Real Impact: Powering Inclusive Agri-Growth in Ghana,” Mr Yeboah said that addressing the financing needs of smallholder farmers requires collaboration among stakeholders.

He said financial support for farmers must be structured in a way that makes it accessible to those operating at the smallholder level.

“I want to say that funding for smallholders in the green space should be affordable and accessible, and if we work together as partners, we can provide that,” he said.

Mr Yeboah said financing, however, should not be considered in isolation, stressing the importance of building the capacity of the farmers and agribusinesses that are expected to benefit from such support.

He called for a strong technical assistance pillar or programme to provide capacity-building support to agribusinesses and smallholder farmers.

According to him, strengthening the capacity of farmers should form part of efforts to improve their access to support from financial institutions.

He also identified the aggregation and training of farmers as important steps in creating a more structured system through which banks can reach smallholder farmers.

“They must be aggregated, they must be trained to become, and the banks will also be willing to get out to support them,” he said.

Mr Yeboah explained that bringing farmers together through aggregation would help create a more organised structure for financial institutions to engage with them.

For him, the role of stakeholders is therefore not limited to providing funding but also includes putting in place the support systems that can help smallholder farmers and agribusinesses build the capacity needed to engage with financial institutions.

He said stronger partnerships among stakeholders could help provide both the financing and technical assistance required to support smallholder farmers in the agricultural sector.