DBG announces game-changing recommendations to achieve food security
Development Bank Ghana (DBG) has announced the key outcomes of its recent multi-stakeholder value chain workshops held across some regions in the country, revealing extensive insights and also putting forward game-changing recommendations to support Ghana’s efforts to achieve food security among other economic benefits.
Speaking at the DBG Value Chain Dissimilation Workshop, Dr Kwabena Opuni-Frimpong, DBG’s Chief Economist and Head of the Economic Research Department, said, “DBG’s overall goal is to seek consensus with its stakeholders and partners in ways in which these recommendations can effectively be implemented to the benefit of our commercial banking partners or participating financial institutions (PFIs) and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) with the view of supporting national growth and transformation.”
In line with its operating model, he said, DBG was employing a collaborative approach to ensure that the recommendations are implemented.
Currently, Dr Opuni-Frimpong said there was ongoing communication and collaboration with a dedicated team from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) on the next phase, which involves implementing the recommendations.
“This will be based on a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which will be signed by both parties. Already, out of the 29 SMEs identified from the value chain workshop, 13 have been taken into the pipeline by the PFIs,” he said.
Dr Opuni-Frimpong said the GCX had also accepted the recommendations, which related to its operations and would be working with DBG to set out the terms of reference, work and timelines to secure implementation.
“Food imports are responsible for about half of food inflation in Ghana. With the high import volumes of staple food items, particularly rice, sugar, and poultry, the effects of the cost of living on the average citizen cannot be underestimated,” he stated.
He said food security was therefore an issue in the country and that was confirmed by Ghana’s 83rd ranking in 2022 out of 115 countries on the Global Food Security Index.
It is in this context and consistent with DBG’s five-year strategic plan that the bank and its key partners undertook deliberate efforts, including the multi-stakeholder workshops, to unravel the issues to be able to address market failures in critical food supply chains of maize, soya, poultry, and rice,” Dr Opuni-Frimpong stated.
He said the key outcomes from the workshops with main players in the rice, soya, maize and poultry sectors were put out in a report under five main areas.
“In terms of identifying SMEs for DBG and its partners’ pipeline, 29 SMEs were selected for further assessment, including being subjected to the rigorous due diligence necessary for qualification to receive financing from DBG via its commercial banking partners or participating finance partners (PFIs),” the DBG Economist stated.
In the area of financing, he said,DBG’s assessment revealed the financing requirements of the four value chains and the need for stakeholders to coordinate their resources to meet the objectives.
In line with this, total financing over five years was projected at US$1.04 billion, of which US$686 million had been identified, leaving a financing gap of US$354 million, adding that it was estimated GCX would need a seed capital of about US$200 million to implement the proposed reforms.
BY TIMES REPORTER
