Kintampo Rural Bank in the Bono Region has pledged its commitment to use the Warehouse Receipt System (WRS) platform to grant more loans to smallholder farmers to increase their agricultural activities.

Mr Martin Mensah, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Kintampo Rural Bank noted that the Ghana WRS project being implemented by the IFC World Bank Group presents real opportunities for the bank to increase lending to smallholder farmers to enable them to increase production.

Mr Martin Mensah further indicated that the partnership with the project stakeholders will provide a solid foundation for a better future for the farmers.

“We want to grant credit, but farmers do not have the matching collateral, but with this less risky arrangement, we are going to increase our agricultural portfolio to support both commercial and smallholder farmers.”
Martin Mensah

Mr Samuel Owusu, the Credit Officer in charge of the Kintampo Branch, asserted that the project initiative is helping the bank to eliminate the major barriers to lending to agricultural businesses. “Once the concerns of farmers’ collateral are addressed through this initiative, we are ready to grant more loans to farmers”, he stated.

WRS Training Session

The WRS training session was organized by the IFC project team in Kintampo, with financial support from Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO). The IFC Ghana WRS project is being implemented in nine regions in the grains value chain of the country. It is a technical assistance and advisory services project aimed at setting up a well functioning and regulated WRS that is expected to facilitate increased access to credit to farmers and the supply chain, access to structured markets and professional warehousing to reduce post harvest storage losses.

This intervention focuses on supporting a well-functioning WRS for the successful operations of the Ghana Commodity Exchange (GCX).

The project addresses WRS on a policy and regulatory level, and system level, including technical advisory, training, capacity building and awareness raising for various stakeholders in the public and private sectors.

Meanwhile, IFC is a sister organization of the World Bank and member of the World Bank Group which is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. It also works with more than 2,000 businesses worldwide, using capital, expertise, and influence to create markets and opportunities in the toughest areas of the world.

In the fiscal year 2018, IFC delivered more than $23 billion in long-term financing for developing countries.

It can be recalled that Agricultural Extension Officers in the Upper West Region have pledged to support the Ghana Warehouse Receipt System (WRS) project of the IFC World Bank Group.

The Extension Officers who described the WRS project as one of the best initiatives to address post-harvest losses in the region also indicated their commitment to adopt and integrate WRS initiatives into their outreach activities.