Managing Director of Agricultural Development Bank (ADB), Dr. John Kofi Mensah has reiterated the commitment of the Bank to increase the share of agricultural loans in the Bank’s total loan portfolio to a minimum of 50 percent within the next three years.

According to Dr. Kofi Mensah, the bank’s current loan portfolio is around 28 percent and though it remains the highest in the industry, the Bank as part of a new strategic direction is determined to increase it to about 50 percent by the year 2022 so as to make the sector more attractive.

“We believe the agricultural sector is a critical part of our economy and the recent pandemic further exposed the need for us to be food sufficient as a country,” he said.

The ADB Managing Director said this when the 2020 National Best Farmer, Mr. Solomon Kwadwo Kusi who is also a customer of the Bank paid a courtesy call on the Management of the Bank in Accra.

Dr. Kofi Mensah revealed that the Bank was in collaboration with the Outgrower and Value Chain Fund (OVCF) , Ghana Incentive Based Risk Sharing for Agricultural Lending (GIRSAL), the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Food and Agriculture to make the sector more attractive to especially the middle and upper class of the Ghanaian society.

“We are moving into a new system of agricultural financing which is termed as value chain financing and this system seeks to de-risk agricultural to ensure that funds invested into any project will not become a bad debt,” he said.

He said that the Bank has already introduced the Ghana Cedis Poultry Value Chain Programme with an amount of GH¢500 million earmarked for it and other Value Chain programmes to be introduced by the Bank from next year will include, Fish value Chain, Maize Value Chain, Cassava Value Chain, Potato Value Chain , Rice Value Chain , Oil Palm Value Chain etc.

Dr. Kofi Mensah congratulated the new National Best Farmer for being a loyal customer of the Bank since 2010 and having worked hard to be crowned the National Best Farmer.

Speaking on behalf of the Board, Mr. George Kwabena Abankwah-Yeboah advised the National Best Farmer to use the GH¢557,000 prize money to further expand his business.

Mr. Abankwah-Yeboah urged the National Best Farmer to consider the entire value chain in agriculture so as to enable him employ more people thus help reduce unemployment.

The 2020 National Best Farmer, Mr. Solomon Kwadwo Kusi, thanked the Bank for the support over the years and pledged to be a brand ambassador for the Bank.

“I have been with ADB for the past ten years and they have assisted me in several areas so winning this year’s National Best Farmer is a testimony of my hardwork and good advice I received from their well-trained Officers,”he said.

According to him, considering the new strategic direction of the Bank to be agribusiness focused he was going to ensure that more farmers save with the Bank so they can also receive professional advice to improve on the financial operations.