Ghana EXIM Bank donates First Runner-Up prize
The Ghana Export and Import Bank (GEXIM) has donated a LS plus 80 Tractor (80HP 4WD) and accessories worth GH¢711,000 to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA).
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The equipment, which lifespan is 30 years, if maintained well, is to be presented to the First, Runner-Up of this year's National Farmers Day scheduled to be held in Tarkwa in the Western Region on December 1, 2023.
The Head of SME Banking of GEXIM, Bright Evans Darko, who presented the equipment on behalf of the bank, explained that the support was to motivate and encourage "hardworking farmers and fisherfolk to continue to play their critical roles in the agricultural sector and economy as a whole”.
He said the bank had been supporting the Farmers Day celebration since the year 2000.
Motivation
Mr Darko explained that the bank believed in financing of the agricultural sector to play its role in the nation's development, especially adding value through processing to export.
He said the bank had always been interested in agric and agro processing in order to make Ghanaian goods competitive in the global marketplace.
“We have been doing this for the past 20 years because it falls directly under our mandate.
“We believe that if agriculture is supported and financed well, it would have an overall impact on the development of the country,” Mr Darko said, adding that Ghana was primarily an agriculture economy, and for that matter if it was developed well, the GDP of the country would increase, “and Ghana as a whole will become a better country”.
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On the role of the bank, Mr Darko said, "Operationally, the bank, as a development and policy bank, seeks to support the industrialisation drive of the government and has become the leading financial institution in the financing of the 1D1F initiative."
Consistency
The Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture in charge of Crops, Yaw Frimpong Addo, who received the equipment, commended the bank for its consistency in supporting the Farmers Day.
He said he was not surprised about the donation, “because EXIM has been giving us quality and it is one of the flagship companies when it comes to Farmers Day”.
Mr Addo described as gratifying the support and appealed to the company to continue to do what they knew best, “for the sake of our farmers”.
He said such support would lead to increased food production and also ensure food security, which was crucial for the ministry.
Mr Addo invited the company to the climax of the celebration in the Western Region and to support the ministry to acknowledge the contribution of the gallant farmers in the country.
He said with the rollout of the PFJ phase two, the focus would be on commercial agriculture and input credit, and as such it was happy that such an equipment was crucial in Ghana’s agricultural mechanisation drive.