Managing Director (MD) of ADB, Dr John Kofi Mensah, has debunked the perception that the bank is deviating from its core mandate of being the ultimate financial institution for developing agriculture in Ghana.

According to him, ADB has created agriculture financing departments in regional branches in accordance with its core mandate and there is no basis for concluding that the financial institution is drifting away from its mandate.

“It’s our main preoccupation to help farmers. In the past, when we talk about ADB funding, we talk about primary agriculture [but] now we are moving away into the whole value chain, talking about processing, we are going into storage, we are going into marketing, packing and even haulage of agriculture produce,” he explained to Class News.

Ghana's indigenous ADB bank has also pledged commitment to scale-up access to credit facilities for local farmers.

According to the MD, extending access to loans for local farmers is to position ADB as the ultimate bank for agricultural development in Ghana.

Dr Kofi Mensah disclosed these on the sidelines of the presentation of 2017 Best Farmer prize in Accra on Thursday, 14 June 2018.