The Managing Director of the Agricultural Development Bank, (ADB), Dr. John Kofi Mensah, has assured the public of the Bank’s continuous support, by focusing on its core mandate of investing in farmers and agric business as a whole.
By placing their commitment to reality, the bank in its latest move has provided outboard motors worth 20 million cedis to some fisherfolks living along the coastal areas of the country.
This comes at a time after the Bank has announced a 500-million-cedi injection package, dedicated to boosting local poultry production in the country.
Speaking to the media after the delivery the outboard motors to the fisherfolks, Dr. Mensah said the prices have been heavily subsidized to help the fisher-folk acquire them.
“ADB has placed itself recently to move very hard to push agribusiness. And this includes crops, animal rearing, commercial tree planting, poultry and the fishing industry. It also includes those who engage in fish pond farming and most importantly our fishermen who ply the sea. They are in numbers, all along the coast so we decided to commit twenty million cedis into this project. We avoided all the fees and commission that a private person who would have imported will encounter,” he said.
Also, the Minister for Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, Elizabeth Aforley Quaye, says the collaboration with ADB demonstrates the government’s commitment to growing the agric sector.
“There is a clear demonstration of government’s commitment to support the fisherfolk. Since we came, we have done so much to assist them and this is a clear demonstration of the support that President Akufo-Addo assured the fisherfolk. In the history of the Agric bank in the procurement of outboard motors, this is the biggest number that the Bank has ever procured. So, this is a feather in the cap of the President,” she said.
Statistics indicate that fisheries constitute an important sector in the national economic development, as it is estimated to contributing 3 per cent of the total GDP and 5 per cent of the GDP in agriculture. Again, about 10 per cent of the country’s population is engaged in various aspects of the fishing industry.
Currently, the new fishing license fees approved by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning is US$ 200 (1,153.89, figures subject to change) per gross registered tonnage.
According to the Fisheries and Aquaculture Ministry, the increment is aimed at protecting Ghanaian fishermen.
