Bolgatanga, July 24, GNA - Some 3,500 farmers in the three Northern Regions are expecting to harvest 2,400 metric tones of sorghum this year for the brewery Industry with assistance from the Venture Capital Trust Fund (VCTF), Nana Osei Bonsu, its Chief Executive Officer said. Nana Bonsu was speaking at a seminar on Tuesday at Bolgatanga, organised to educate business persons in the Upper East Region on how the Fund operates and the process of accessing it.

He said he was certain that a recent draught that hit the area would not affect the expected because measures had been taken to ensure that the breweries get the exact quantity of sorghum that they needed. He cited an experimental sorghum farm in the northern part of Ashanti Region, saying it had proved successful and would help boost the needs of the breweries.

He said applicants were required to provide 51 per cent of the total money needed either to start or expand the business, while the Fund provides 49 percent with a flexible interest rate. This, he added, would depend on the strength of the company and the risk involved.

Nana Bonsu said the Fund was aimed at providing low cost financing available to small and medium businesses to facilitate growth in the productive sector, thereby, create jobs and wealth. It attracts neither collateral nor any other form of security but demands that the business be viable with all tax obligations honoured, he said.

Mr Vincent Adzato-Ntem, Director, Upper East Regional Coordinating Council, appealed to the Fund to give the Region a special concession, because many people were poor and could not meet some of the requirements to access it.

"I know that there are many people in the region who are hard working and could expand their businesses well, but they do not have 51 per cent of the target seed capital they may have in mind, such people should be given a chance", he said.

He advised beneficiaries to pay back promptly so that others would benefit.

The Venture Capital Trust Fund was established by the Government in 2004 with the aim of providing investment capital to small and medium scale enterprises.