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Peasant Farmers call for establishment
of credit fund
Accra, July 24, Ghanadot/GNA – Mr. Mohammed Adam Nasiru,
President of the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana, has
said the association will soon propose to government, to
enact a legislation to enhance access to credit facilities
for farmers and farm-related enterprises.
Speaking at a seminar in Accra on Tuesday, Mr. Nasiru said
the proposed bill would help establish an Agriculture Credit
Fund, which would provide financial resources to farmers and
producers of designated or qualified agriculture products.
It would also put in place mechanism to safeguard the
farmers and their farm related enterprises.
Mr. Nasiru explained that the provision of credit and loans
does not make domestic agriculture producers competitive.
Consequently, he said, in situations where after having
accessed credit from the fund, farmers’ competitiveness was
threatened by import upsurges, it would be necessary then to
put in place measures, such as higher tariff or even the
imposition of quotas to reduce the level of foreign
competition.
He proposed that the fund should be administered by a
commission, as opposed to the current practice of setting up
a secretariat to administer funds in respect of the Export
Development and Investment Fund (EDIF).
The proposed Agriculture Credit Commission would have a
broader catchment area than the current skeletal secretariat
usually centralized in Accra.
He said with the passage of the proposed bill, farmers
access to credit, insurance and market would be enhanced.
Mr. Nasiru stressed that the capital contribution to the
fund would come from a number of sources, but the principal
subscribers to the capital of the fund would
be the government and the Bank of Ghana.
He expressed the hope that enactment of the bill would help
solve some of the problems faced by farmers in import
sensitive industries in Ghana.
GNA
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