The loan is a concessionary facility of UA27.86 million (equivalent to US$39.01 million) from the African Development Fund to finance the Savannah Zone Agricultural Productivity Improvement Project (SAPIP).
The Government of Ghana has secured a $39.01million loan from the African Development Fund (ADF) to support the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) programme.
The loan agreement was signed on Thursday, March 15, 2018, with Ghana’s Minister for Finance Ken Ofori-Atta and Dr. Otto H. J. Baldeh, the Ghana Country Manager of the Africa Development Bank, putting pen to paper to complete the deal.
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The loan is a concessionary facility of UA27.86 million (equivalent to US$39.01 million) from the African Development Fund to finance the Savannah Zone Agricultural Productivity Improvement Project (SAPIP).
The Project is expected to be implemented over a five-year period, starting 2018 to 2022.
A statement from the Finance Ministry said the Project is geared towards transforming agriculture in the country and creating jobs.
“The development objective of the Project is to transform agricultural value chains for food and nutrition security, job creation within the Savannah Zone,” sections of the statement stated.
It added that the loan agreement targets three specific objectives which include; “increasing farmers’ food and nutrition security, increasing incomes through increased agricultural productivity and diversification and enhance the creation and strengthening of agribusinesses to increase incomes of actors along selected value chains in a sustainable basis.”
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Also, the four main components of the Project are Crop Productivity Improvement Component, Value Chain and Agribusinesses Development Component, Infrastructure Development Component, Project Coordination, Management and M and E Component.
Over 50,000 economically active small holders living in the Savannah zone are expected to benefit when the Project is completed.
It is also expected to contribute to the input support programme of the Ministry of the Food and Agriculture reaching about 250,000.