The Development Bank Ghana (DBG) – whose mission seeks to facilitate and strengthen long-term credit flow to Ghanaian sector businesses, has disclosed its intention to make targeted investments across four value chains in the agricultural sector, with the aim of addressing the prevailing food insecurity in the country caused by inadequate local production to meet consumption needs.
This initiative comes amidst increasing concerns about high food prices in Ghana, which have contributed to the country’s record of high inflation rate of 53.1% as of January 2023. The DBG’s efforts to ramp up local production in the agricultural sector aims to play a crucial role in stabilizing food prices and improving food security in the country.
According to the Vice President of DBG, Mr. Michael Mensah-Baah, the four value chains that the bank intends to invest in are poultry, rice, maize, and soybean.
These value chains, as indicated by Mr. Mensah-Baah, have been selected based on their potential to make a significant impact on the country’s food security and the current challenges faced by farmers in these areas.
“The investment will be complemented by policy reforms in the four value chains, and it will be based on the challenges identified through workshops held by the bank.
“The challenges identified will be compiled and presented to policymakers for reforms that will be complemented by medium to long-term financing from the bank. This initiative will ensure that farmers in these value chains have access to the necessary resources and support to increase their output, thus improving food security in the country.”
Mr. Mensah-Baah
The workshops, scheduled to commence on March 8, 2023, will engage relevant stakeholders in the agricultural sector to identify the obstacles hindering sufficient production of food in the selected value chains.
Ghana’s Food Insecurity
Food insecurity is a significant challenge in Ghana, with the country having one of the highest food prices globally.
According to DBG, the high food prices are mainly attributed to low food output by farmers and high imports, particularly of poultry and rice, which have annual import bills of $600m and $1bn, respectively, adding that: “these high food prices have further entrenched the food insecurity already facing the country.”
The DBG’s investment in the agricultural sector seeks to potentially have a significant impact on the country’s economy since the sector employs approximately 44% of the country’s workforce and contributes about 20% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).
Commenting on the great initiative taken by DBG, Mr. Mensah-Baah divulged that the increased investment in the agriculture sector would stimulate economic growth and development, leading to the creation of jobs and increased income for farmers and other stakeholders in the value chains.
