The management of the Tumu Community Cooperative Credit Union (TCCU) has endorsed the Warehouse Receipt System Project (WRS), saying it presents real opportunities for the association to enhance the financial status of its members to improve their livelihoods.

At a training session organised at Tumu in the Upper West Region by the WRS Project of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group, the leadership of the TCCU acknowledged that the WRS interventions would help them to control the default rate of loans granted to members.

Mr Kodimah Issifu, the Board Chairman for the TCCU, explained that members of the Union would no longer have the opportunity to divert their produce since the commodities would be stored in separate and secured warehouses.

"This Warehouse Receipt System brings us an opportunity to expand our membership base and operations, while helping us to reduce the loan default rate because members can no longer divert their produce", he emphasised.

Madam Aisha Batong Hor, the General Manger of the TCCU, on her part indicated that there were many opportunities with the WRS intervention that would be used to develop various products to serve the needs and aspirations of union members.

"We have already identified many products and services that could be developed to enhance the agribusinesses of our members as we also grow the Union's agribusiness portfolio", she said.

She explained that the IFC Ghana WRS Project was being implemented in nine regions of the country, with financial support from the Switzerland's State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).

"It is a technical assistance and advisory services project aimed at setting up a well-functioning regulated WRS that is expected to facilitate an increased access to credit to farmers and the supply chain, linkage to structured markets and reduce post-harvest storage loses", she stressed.

According to her, the intervention focused on supporting a well-functioning WRS as a necessary pre-condition for the successful operations of the Ghana Commodity Exchange (GCX).

The project addresses WRS on a policy and regulatory level, system level, including; technical advisory, training, capacity building and awareness raising for various stakeholders in the public and private sectors.

IFC, a sister organisation of the World Bank works with more than 2,000 businesses worldwide, using capital, expertise, and influence to create markets and opportunities in the toughest areas of the world.

In the fiscal year 2018, it delivered more than US$23 billion in long-term financing for developing countries.