AGRICULTURAL
Development Bank (ADB) has donated GH¢50 million to the National Food Buffer
Stock Company Limited (NAFCO) for its food storage activities.
The
donation is to enable NAFCO to purchase grains specifically maize, rice and
cowpea from farmers mainly under government’s flagship programme, ‘Planting for
Food and Jobs (PFJ)’, to be supplied to government senior high schools.
At
a brief presentation ceremony held at the ADB headquarters in Accra, Managing
Director of ADB, Dr. John Kofi Mensah, said the bank recognizes its “strategic
role” in financing to accelerate the growth of the agricultural and allied
sectors.
He
disclosed that, in 2018, the bank provided GH¢20 million to NAFCO to purchase
grains under the PFJ programme.
The
increased amount this year, he said, is underpinned by the fact that the
cultivated area under the PFJ programme has increased, and again, because the
third stream of students under the Free SHS programme will be going to school
in September with the attendant increase in food requirement.
“In
addition to supporting NAFCO to undertake purchase of grains, the bank will
also continue to provide support to aggregators licensed by NAFCO to purchase
grains and other foodstuff for supply to secondary schools,” he added.
Dr.
Mensah also said the bank was concerned about post harvest losses and said they
would support NAFCO to provide a reliable marketing outlet for farmers.
Receiving
the donation, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NAFCO, Alhaji Hanan
Abdul-Wahab, commended the bank highly for the support. He said with the money,
NAFCO would be able to purchase grains from farmers for “onward supply” to
selected state institutions, especially public boarding schools under the Free
SHS programme.
Representing
the Ministry of Agriculture, Asante Krobea, Technical Advisor to the sector
minister Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, said the FPJ initiative is yielding positive
results, and gestures like these would help strengthen agricultural development
in the country.
By Nii Adjei Mensahfio
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