Story By:
Zigi Reginald Mawuli
Mr. Evans Tetteh, the senior supervisor of Yilo Star Microfinance in Somanya, Ghana, on November 22, 2015, briefed small scale farmers on the basic requirements needed to meet loan facilities in the agribusiness industries. He made his stands clear in the studios of Rite 90.1 fm during a radio discussion on agribusiness financing.
Financial institutions grant loans to farmers and they also have special products for farmers of which farmers need to meet basic requirements for accessing these loans.
According to Mr. Evans, Farmers do not see farming as a business. They only grow to feed their family of which when there is abundance before they sell some of this produce. More so, they take the farming as a stop gap measure of a sort and the very reason farmers do not brand themselves to meet requirements to develop their small scale farming.
Mr. Evans echoed that most of the small scale farmers take loans for the purpose of farming yet they channel some of these funds into other unexpected ventures like petty trading of their spouses. He also said most often trust, faithfulness and commitment of farmers cannot be determined.
On the contrarily, Mr. Evans explained that, sometimes lack of effective monitoring of loan officers and high interest percentage posed by financial institution is also one of the missing gaps.
The Financial expect encouraged farmers to meet the simple requirement of making farming a business as a track record and produce in large quantities goods that have ready market.
Source: ritefmonline.org
