Farmers, fishermen set up endowment fund

16/10/2010

Story: Musah Yahaya Jafaru
THE National Farmers and Fishermen Association (NAFFA) has set up an agricultural endowment fund to raise GH¢120 million annually to support farmers and enhance agriculture in the country.
Twenty per cent of proceeds from the funds will be used as a provident fund for farmers, 20 per cent as life/accident insurance, 30 per cent will be used to serve as a cover for farmers to access loans from banks and the remaining 30 per cent will be used for the management of the fund.
The President of NAFFA, Mr Philip Abayori, who made this known at the second National Food and Agricultural Show (FAGRO 2010) at the Trade Fair in Accra, said the fund would be launched in December 2010.
He explained that the association had realised that individual farmers did not have “the financial muscle” to raise funds or access loans from the banks.
Therefore, the endowment fund would boost the credit worthiness of farmers, as it would serve as guarantee for them to access loans from banks.
Mr Abayori said when the funds mature enough, the association would start giving out soft loans to farmers.
Besides, he said, it could buy fertilisers and pesticides in bulk and resell them at cheaper cost to farmers.
The week-long exhibition being organised by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), on the theme; “Sustainable Agriculture through Appropriate Technology”, has on display agricultural products, agro chemicals, foodstuffs, livestock, fisheries, beverages and agricultural machinery.
The exhibitors are from Ghana, some neighbouring African countries, Europe and the United States of America.
Many of the exhibitors expressed joy at attendance at the exhibition, as some of them had either sold some of their items or had had some people express interest in buying their items later.
Other exhibitors, however, felt that patronage had been slow and expressed the hope that it would pick up by the end of the exhibition this Sunday.
The manager of Ajax-Ghana, Mr Kwabena Opagya, said many farmers had visited the company's stand to enquire about its tractors for land preparation, seeding, irrigation, harvesting and processing.
He, however, noted that although the farmers had expressed interest in the tractors (Landini, Case, Agromash), many of them appeared not to have the money to buy them.
The Togolese Ambassador to Ghana and Dean of the Diplomatic Corps in Ghana, Mr Jean-Pierre T. Gbikpi-Benissan, who visited the exhibition, said he was there to see the various farming machinery and establish contacts with the exhibitors for future purposes.