Financial system hostile to agribusiness – Dr. Abu Sakara

Ghana needs to create a favourable financial system to support the agricultural sector, the 2012 presidential candidate of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Dr Abu Sakara Foster, has admonished.

The agronomist believes a serious look at costs of financing agriculture is key if the country is to transform the economy and creating employment as touted by the government.

For him, “the current financial system is not supporting agriculture and it is hostile to agriculture, so how do you expect agriculture to have the lifeline that it needs to get going”.

Dr Foster, who was a guest on Class FM’s Executive Breakfast Show on Thursday, January 19, told host Moro Awudu: “The interest rates now are well above 28 per cent; some are even going beyond 30 per cent. You can’t use that kind of interest rate for agriculture.”

He also raised concerns about the period of payment in relation to the duration of maturity of crops, lamenting how the banks and financial institutions demand payment when crops are still in the field.

He suggested to government to institute measures that will encourage financial institutions to support agriculture because evolution and transition from small-scale to medium- and large-scale farming that will change the outlook of commercial agriculture will go a long way to boost the economy and create numerous jobs.

The agronomist wants the economy to be restructured, with agriculture repositioned properly to drive employment and revenue.