The U.S. government has awarded COVID-19 relief and resilience grants to 12 agricultural finance intermediaries in the country.
The presentation was done in Tamale, Northern Region. This will be carried out through the USAID-supported Feed the Future Ghana Mobilizing Finance in Agriculture (MFA) Activity.
The 12 intermediaries received grant amounts totaling $2.63 million to support farmers and agribusinesses including women and youth-led agribusinesses whose activities have been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic to mitigate the effects of the pandemic and become more resilient against probable future shocks.
A press statement signed by Dr. Victor Antwi, Chief of Party, Feed the Future Ghana Mobilizing Finance in Agriculture (MFA) Activity indicated that the beneficiaries were selected from among 84 applicants who participated in a competitive process that followed the launch of the COVID-19 Relief and Resilience Challenge Fund by the MFA Activity in March 2022.
The COVID-19 Relief and Resilience grants will help the intermediaries meet demand for finance and investment for production and processing activities in the maize, soy, cowpea, groundnut, shea, mango, cashew and pineapple value chains to ensure local food security and increase the country’s foreign exchange through exports.
Farmers, agribusinesses, representatives of USAID/Ghana, and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture were present to grace the ceremony.
Feed the Future is the U.S. Government’s initiative to end global hunger. Led by USAID and driven by collaborative partnerships across public and private sectors, including eleven (11) U.S. Government agencies, Feed the Future addresses the root causes of poverty and hunger.
This is done by boosting inclusive agriculture-led economic growth, resilience, and nutrition in countries with great need and opportunity for improvement.
On the other hand, Feed the Future Ghana Mobilizing Finance in Agriculture (MFA) Activity is a USAID-supported activity that seeks to improve access to finance for farmers and agribusinesses in Ghana. The Activity enables transaction advisors to support agribusinesses to secure loans and investment.
MFA also assists diverse financial institutions to expand financing of farmers and agribusinesses, so that enterprises can purchase agricultural inputs (such as seeds and fertilizers), invest in processing, expand production, and scale operations.
From 2020 to 2024, MFA is to help 81,493 enterprises access $261 million in finance, leading to $500 million in new sales. MFA is also supporting Ghana’s agricultural financing system to mitigate the negative impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on farmers and agribusinesses.
As of August 2022, MFA has facilitated $146 million to approximately 10,000 agribusinesses including 62% female-led enterprises in the MFA target value chains (maize, soy, groundnut, cowpea, cashew, mango and shea as well as other high value export crops).
