US government mobilizes $115 million for Ghana’s agricultural sector

Feed the Future, an initiative by the United States government has mobilized more than $115 million in private sector investment for Ghana’s agricultural productivity, boost incomes, and link farmers to market and trade opportunities, Melinda Tabler-Stone, Chargé d'affaires, US Embassy has said.

According to her, the US government is aware that the growth of commercial agriculture in Ghana is constraint by lack of access to private capital and lack of access to markets and is therefore fully committed to working with its partners and the government of Ghana for a solution.

She brought this to the fore at the fourth annual agribusiness investment summit held in Accra, Thursday.

“Together with the government of Ghana development partners, we support small, medium and large enterprises in the maize, rice, and soy value chains. That support includes helping them form strategic partnerships and gain access to finance. To date, we have mobilized more than $115 million in private-sector investment for Ghana’s agricultural sector. This achievement has directly benefited more than 95,000 smallholder farmers in northern Ghana – and 40 percent of them are women,” she said.

“We are also promoting alternative and competitive sources of agricultural financing through the Ghana Alternative Market, which is operated by the Ghana Stock Exchange. As these efforts enrich equity financing and public-private partnerships, they also strengthen the regulation of capital to improve access to finance,” she added.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), through the US government’s Feed the Future Initiative, hosted the fourth annual agribusiness investment summit to showcase investment opportunities in Ghana’s agribusiness. The event which was under the theme, ‘Mobilizing Strategic Investment for Agriculture”, brought together business service providers, financial institutions, agribusinesses, farmers, development partners and the Ghana government.

The main aim of the event was to spotlight Ghanaian agribusinesses, and link them with viable private investment opportunities. The event featured panel discussions on subjects including opportunities in the agriculture sector, the importance of forming strategic partnerships to enhance agricultural productivity, and alternative sources of financing for agribusiness...............source Ghanaweb