One hundred and ten companies and associations in Brong and Ahafo, northern volta and three northern regions have been supported financially by the Export Development and Agriculture Investment Fund (EDAIF) to boost agricultural production in the country.
The Acting Chief Executive Officer of EDAIF, Dr Abdul-Nashiru Issahaku disclosed this at the official inauguration of EDAIF office in Tamale. The inauguration also coincided with the launch of the Agriculture and Agro-processing Development and Credit Facility.
Dr Abdul-Nashiru Issahaku said the decision to open EDAIF office in Tamale was to improve the fund’s accessibility to prospective beneficiaries in the northern sector of the country.
It was also necessary due to the high concentration of EDAIF funded projects in the northern sector, especially its on-going mango project.
Dr Nashiru said his outfit recognized the cost and the risk associated with clients having to travel to-and-from the secretariat in Accra to access funds and also to help improve turnout time for applications received from the northern sector.
The fund since its establishment in 2009 has been funding mango plantation in the northern, Upper East West, Brong Ahafo and northern Volta regions.
Dr Abdul-Nashiru appealed to stakeholders in the agricultural and agro processing sector to take time and study the guidelines for accessing the facility to enable them to seek the funds support.
The Fund which focuses on mango plantation programme, also supported famers to cultivate groundnut, soybeans, pineapple, chilli pepper and cashew in the northern sector of the country.
EDAIF was established by Act 582 of 2000, amended in October, 2011 to include the mandate to provide financial resources for the development and promotion of agriculture relating to agro-processing and the agro-processing industry.
Dr Nashiru used the occasion to appeal to the people in the region to conduct themselves peacefully during this year’s elections. He said the people in the region are one people and that, there was no reason for politics to divide them.
Given the historical background of the fund, the Board chairman of EDAIF, Professor Francis Dodoo said between 2001, when the fund started operations, and January 2012, 765 export oriented projects have been supported by the EDAIF to the tune of 293.52 million Ghana cides: a total of 206.72 million has been used to fund interventions under the export development and promotion facility, 86.80 million Ghana cedis has also gone to fund 479 projects.
Professor Dodoo said the fund has contributed to the development of Ghana’s non-traditional export sector adding that, data obtained from the Ghana export promotion authority indicate, that non-traditional export earnings rose from 459.60 million US dollars in 2001 to 2.43 billion in 2011.
The new facility according to professor Dodoo was one of the interventions introduced into agriculture sector by government. Apart from bringing closer to savannah area, the board chairman said will ensure that EDAIF become particularly relevant to the overwhelmingly agriculture communities of the northern savanna belt.
The Chief of Tamale, Naa Alhassan Mohammed Dawuni assured the board of chiefs commitment and support to ensuring the success of the facility and expressed the hope that the right people benefit from the credit facility.
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