Participants at a day's Brong Ahafo Regional Stakeholders meeting has lauded the organizers, the Export Development and Agricultural Investment Fund (EDAIF) for initiating steps to boost the agricultural and agro-processing sector of the country.
The meeting to sensitize the stakeholders on its Agriculture and Agro-Processing Development and Credit Account was held in Sunyani on Friday and attended by more than 120 participants.
They included agro-processors, farmers, representatives of farmer-based organisations and associations, marketers and Designated Financial Institutions (DFIs).
Mr Kwesi Etu-Bonde, Proprietor of Sky-3 Farms at Kintampo in Brong-Ahafo Region and a participant commended EDAIF for the meeting describing it as "good and timely because currently EDAIF package is the best for agri-business development in Ghana".
However, he pointed out that farmers and agro-processors were not accessing the facility because adequate awareness had not been created among potential beneficiaries.
Mr Etu-Bonde, who owns a 300-acre mango farm at Kintampo and is the 2011 National Best Mango Farmer, expressed the hope that the meeting through the participants and the media would reach the general public, especially farmers and agro-processors to provide impetus to the agriculture and agro-processing industries.
Mr Frank Obeng, Manager of Export Development and Promotion explained the operational guidelines and activities of EDAIF to the participants.
He said specific agricultural activities to be supported include "Provision of credit, refinancing and credit guarantee through DFIs to persons in the agriculture and agro-processing sectors of the economy".
Mr Obeng said in addition, the facility would cater for "appraisals and studies necessary to determine areas of the agriculture and agro-processing sectors that need intervention and monitoring and evaluation of the interventions".
The EDAIF Board held a media interaction to educate personnel on the details and essence of the new facility and its benefits to farmers, agro-processors and aggregators (middlemen or marketers).
The EDAIF Act 823 was established in 2011 to replace the Export Development and Investment Fund (EDIF) enacted by Act 582 in 2000 to provide financial resources for the development and promotion of the export trade of Ghana.
Act 582 was amended for Act 823 "to include the provision of financial resources for the development and promotion of agriculture relating to agro-processing and agro-processing industry".