150 Female farmers receive free fertiliser
BESSFA Rural Bank, in partnership with Yara Ghana Limited, a company which deals in fertiliser, has donated 450 bags of fertiliser to 150 female farmers within the bank’s operational areas.
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In line with Yara Ghana’s Grow Ghana Programme, each of the beneficiary women received three bags of Yara Activa 50 kg fertiliser to assist them in their farming activities.
Given the strong partnership between both institutions, Yara Ghana, as part of its corporate social responsibility, decided to donate the fertiliser to the top performing female farmers who are
clients of the bank.
Already, Bessfa Rural Bank has an engagement with Yara Ghana to supply fertiliser to all farmers under a project dubbed “Northern Rural Growth Programme” (NRGP).
Under the programme, the bank extends input support to farmers within its operational areas, who are given a moratorium to complete the production process before paying back their loans to the bank at the end of the farming season.
In 2024, the bank has projected to invest over GH¢20 million to supply more than 50,000 bags of 50kg fertiliser to farmers within its catchment areas.
Reduce cost
At a brief ceremony to hand over the bags of fertiliser to the beneficiary farmers, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the bank, Hayatudeen Ibrahim Awudu, said the gesture to the women farmers was to reduce their cost of production and to improve their household income.
He said the beneficiaries were selected based on the timely repayment of their loans, implementation of good agronomic practices, record keeping, good saving culture and average yield per acre at the end of last year’s farming season.
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While thanking Yara Ghana for extending support to the female farmers, he entreated the beneficiaries to be committed in their dealings with the bank and pay back their loans to enable them to receive continuous support from the bank.
Interest rate
Alhaji Awudu announced that for this year’s farming season, the Board of Directors had approved a reduction in the interest rate on loans to groups under thebank’s NRGP product from 30 per cent per annum to 28 per cent.
“More importantly, the board has also directed that farmer groups that are female-dominated will have loans at a highly subsidised interest rate of 25 per cent per annum,” he said
The CEO stressed that the bank did not only invest more than 60 per cent of its total loans in agriculture but also ensured that 80 per cent of the loans were given to smallholder farmers who are
mostly women.
The Regional Sales Representative, Yara Ghana Limited, Basit Ussif, commended the farmers for their loyalty to the bank and their continuous usage of their products.
He assured them that the company had come to stay and was ready to provide the required inputs to boost their agricultural production and increase crop
yield.
Writer’s email: gilbert.agbey@graphic.com.gh