AFD provides €17.7m loan for rubber outgrower project
The Agence Francaise de Development (AFD) has granted a loan of 17.7 million euros to the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) for the implementation of the phase five of the rubber outgrower plantation project.
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Under the project, 8,000 hectares of rubber will be cultivated by 2,600 outgrower farmers in over 400 communities.
The communities are located in 33 districts in the Central and Western regions and the targeted beneficiaries will be women.
Aside producing on average 19,000 tonnes of rubber annually at the peak, the 2,600 beneficiaries will also cultivate about 1,000 hectares of food crops.
The Managing Director of the ADB, Mr Stephen Kpordzih, signed on behalf of the bank, while the French Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Francois Pujolas, and Ms Amelie July, Resident Manager of the AFD, signed for the agency.
Mr Kpordzih said over the 20-year period of the project, about 30,000 hectares of rubber had been cultivated by 8,500 farmers.
He lauded the bank’s partners for insisting on the active involvement of women in the phase five of the project, with a target of 30 per cent women.
Phase four of the project which spanned 2010-2012 involved a direct (non-sovereign) financing from the Agence Francaise de Development to the ADB.
“This had resulted in the successful cultivation of 10,700 hectares of rubber by 2,800 outgrower farmers,” Mr Kpordzih said.
Loan default
Mr Kpordzih said despite the large number of farmers engaged on the project, the bank would endeavour to disburse the funds to the beneficiaries on time.
He also said one challenge facing the project was the increasing rate of defaulting in the payment of loans by the beneficiaries and noted that it might pose a threat to the sustainability of the project.
“Together with our partners, we will develop appropriate strategies to address the challenge,” Mr Kpordzih said.
He thanked the AFD, Ghana Rubber Estates Limited (GREL) and the Rubber Outgrowers and Agents’ Association (ROAA) for their collaboration and expressed the hope that they would continue working together for their mutual benefit.
Great success
For his part, Mr Pujolas said the ADB and the AFD had been working together for the past 20 years on the various phases of the rubber outgrower plantation project.
He also said the loan for phase five of the project was the first non-sovereign loan disbursed in Ghana by the AFD and it was also the first credit line dedicated to supporting small-scale agriculture in AFD’s history.
Mr Pujolas added that the current phase of the project was evidence that the rubber outgrower scheme had been a great success.
He thanked the ADB for contributing to the successful development of rubber plantations for the past 20 years.
