Thursday, 12th March, 2026
Hon Sebastian Fred Deh
Kpando
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
I rise to make this Statement in support of smallholder farmers in Ghana, the role of financial institutions with tailor-made, innovative financial intermediation. Mr Speaker, I also want to use the opportunity to thank you so much for admitting this Statement months back. But because of the lapse of time, I will abridge it and with your leave, ask that the entire Statement as submitted and admitted by your good self be published in the Hansard.
Introduction
Mr Speaker, I rise today to draw attention to the critical importance of supporting the smallholder farmers in Ghana, who form the backbone of our agricultural sector. Agriculture employs over half of our population and contributes significantly to Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Despite their crucial role, smallholder farmers remain among the most economically vulnerable in our society.
Mr Speaker, today I wish to emphasise the need for a strategic, wellcoordinated approach to supporting the smallholder farmers, with particular focus on the role of financial inclusion, using Opportunity International Savings and Loans (OISL) as a shining example of how targeted financial services can transform the agricultural landscape and improve the lives of our farmers.
The Significance of Smallholder Farmers in Ghana’s Economy
Mr Speaker, it is well-documented that smallholder farmers constitute about 70 per cent of Ghana’s farming population, producing a majority of our staple foods such as maize, cassava, yams, and vegetables. They play a vital role in ensuring food security, reducing rural poverty, and supporting our overall economic development.
However, smallholder farmers face numerous challenges including limited access to affordable credit, inadequate extension services, poor market linkages, climate change, and post-harvest losses. Addressing these challenges holistically is necessary if we are to achieve food self-sufficiency and sustainable rural development as country.
The Financial Inclusion Gap
Mr Speaker, access to finance is one of the biggest barriers to the growth and prosperity of smallholder farmers. Many of our farmers, particularly those in remote areas, remain excluded from the formal financial system. Without access to affordable loans, savings products, and insurance, farmers are unable to invest in improved seeds, fertilisers, mechanisation, and post-harvest infrastructure. According to the 2021 Global Findex Report, rural populations in Ghana remain underserved by financial institutions. This financial exclusion reduces productivity and exacerbates poverty.
The Role of Opportunity International Savings and Loans
Mr Speaker, one institution that has taken deliberate steps to bridge this financial inclusion gap for smallholder farmers is Opportunity International Savings and Loans (OISL) and other similar financial institutions. Opportunity International has been operating in Ghana for over 20 years, offering innovative financial products tailored to the needs of smallholder farmers, agribusinesses, and microentrepreneurs.
Opportunity International’s agricultural finance programmes adopt the value chain financing approach and are focus on:
- Providing seasonal loans to farmers to purchase inputs at the start of the planting season.
- Offering financial literacy training to ensure farmers understand basic financial management, savings, and loan repayment strategies.
- Facilitating linkages with buyers and input suppliers, thereby integrating farmers into value chains.
- Offering mobile banking services to rural farmers, allowing them to save and transact without traveling long distances.
Mr Speaker, this combination of credit, training, and market linkages has helped thousands of smallholder farmers improve their productivity and incomes.
Case Studies and Success Stories
Mr Speaker, let me share the story of Ama Mensah, a maize farmer in the Bono Region. Through Opportunity International, Ama received her firstever agricultural loan in 2020, which she used to purchase improved seeds, fertilisers, and hire a tractor for ploughing. In addition to the loan, Ama benefited from training on good agricultural practices and financial management. Ama’s case is similar to Akua Agbledela from Kudzra in Kpando in the Volta Region and Kofi Osei of Aboatoase in the Oti Region of Ghana. Mr Speaker, Ama’s maize yield increased by 70 per cent after adopting modern farming practices, and with improved market access facilitated by Opportunity International, she was able to sell her produce at competitive prices.
Today, Ama is not only feeding her family, but is saving to expand her farm and her children's school fees. Mr Speaker, there are countless similar stories across the country— There are countless similar stories across the country, demonstrating that when smallholder farmers have access to the right financial tools, training, and market opportunities, they can transform their lives and contribute meaningfully to Ghana’s development.
Policy Recommendations to Scale Support for Smallholder Farmers
Mr Speaker, while institutions like Opportunity International are playing a commendable role, we, as policymakers, must create an enabling environment to scale these efforts and ensure that financial inclusion for smallholder farmers becomes a national priority. I propose the following:
a) Establishment of an Agricultural Finance Support Fund A dedicated fund of this nature would de-risk lending to smallholder farmers by providing credit guarantees to financial institutions that offer loans to farmers. This would incentivise more banks and non-bank financial institutions to develop innovative, low-interest agricultural loan products. The role of Ghana Incentive-Based Risk-Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (GIRSAL) is acknowledged here, and should be scaled further
b) Strengthen Public-Private Partnerships Mr Speaker, strong Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) are essential for delivering comprehensive support to smallholder farmers. Government extension services, agribusinesses, and financial institutions must work together in a concerted manner to bundle finance, training, inputs, and market access into integrated support packages for farmers.
c) Digital Financial Services Expansion Mr Speaker, the rapid adoption of mobile money in Ghana presents a tremendous opportunity to expand digital financial services to rural farmers. It is critical for financial institutions to invest in developing mobile-based savings, loans, and insurance products tailored to farmers’ needs.
d) Farmer Database and Credit Scoring System The Government, through the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, should develop a national database of smallholder farmers, including their crops, farm sizes, and production histories. This would enable financial institutions to develop customised products and improve credit assessments, thereby reducing the risk premium on agricultural loans.
e) Climate-Smart Financing Mr Speaker, climate change poses an existential threat to smallholder agriculture. We must encourage climatesmart agricultural practices through targeted financing mechanisms, such as subsidised loans for climate-resilient seeds, irrigation systems, and solarpowered equipment.
Inclusion of Women and Youth Mr Speaker, we cannot overlook the critical role of women and youth in agriculture. Women constitute the majority of smallholder farmers, yet they face greater barriers to accessing finance. Special attention must be paid to developing gender-sensitive financial products and providing training tailored to the needs of women farmers.
Furthermore, attracting youth to agriculture requires innovative financing models that combine capital, technology, and entrepreneurship support to make farming a viable and attractive livelihood for the next generation can add great value to deepening financial intermediation for small holder farmers.
Coordinating Policy Interventions
Mr Speaker, in consideration, the critical challenges confronting small holder farmers are cross cutting and manifest across various sectors of agriculture. It is imperative that programmes are designed to dovetail into activities of the smallholder farmer for better impact.
It is in this light that the current Government’s Flagship programme for agriculture dubbed the Feed Ghana Programme deserves commendation. This elaborate programme being rolled out by Government has almost all 6 components focused on the smallholder farmer and are coordinated from a single point of view. I use this opportunity to enumerate them:
• Grains and Legumes Development
• Vegetable Development Project
• Livestock Development Project
• Poultry Revitalisation Efforts
• Controlled Environment Farming
• Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture Measuring Impact
Mr Speaker, it is essential that we track the impact of financial inclusion programmes targeted at smallholder farmers. I propose that the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture develop key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the number of farmers accessing formal financial services, the volume of agricultural loans disbursed, and the repayment rates. These indicators should be reported annually to Parliament, enabling us to assess progress and refine policies where necessary.
Conclusion Mr Speaker, supporting smallholder farmers is not just an agricultural policy matter — it is a national development imperative. By ensuring that our farmers have access to the financial tools, training, and markets they need, we are investing in food security, poverty reduction, and economic development. Institutions like Opportunity International Savings and Loans have demonstrated that with the right support, smallholder farmers can thrive.
Mr Speaker, I believe this is embedded in the vision of President John Dramani Mahama agricultural development and should therefore be encouraged for it will empower our farmers, strengthen our rural economies, and ensure a more prosperous and food-secure Ghana. Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Hon Samuel Awuku
Akuapim North
Mr Speaker, also permit me to break protocol by extending my deepest condolences to you.
Mr Speaker, listening to the Hon Member of Parliament and the maker of this Statement, I would like to commend him for bringing the plight and the issues of our farmers, and especially, those who practice farming, not on that commercial scale but on a smaller scale. Among the things that he also listed as part of recommendation, which I also support him, is the establishment of an Agricultural Finance Support Fund. I believe this will also go a long way to help many farmers and especially also help reduce their burden and also serve as an incentive for many banks who also want to support and partner them in this regard.
Mr Speaker, in the area of the PublicPrivate Partnership (PPP), I believe that is also one area that we can also look at in supporting many of our farmers who are in dire need of the financial support. While at this, we can also not gloss over and pretend that the role of Government as a major player in the agricultural sector can be washed away. It is a tragedy for a small-scale farmer to sweat, put in all the effort, and at the end of the day, the Government will turn its back on the farmer.
Mr Speaker, I am bringing this issue as a matter of urgent concern that we have many of our farmers today, who do not even find it worthy to even go into farming in the next planting season. They have their maize. After harvesting it, issues of even storage become a problem. The issue of cocoa is still fresh on our minds. Many of our farmers we are talking about are not even cultivating on a 100-acre scale, 200 acres, some 20, 10, or 5 acres. And if they can also have this major crop and still Government will not even buy from them or pay them, then it becomes a disincentive for some of these farmers to go into farming.
While we have cocoa issues to deal with, you also have that of rice. We have many of our small-scale farmers and many of our farmers in the rural communities who are keeping the nation going. Seventy per cent of what we eat is coming from the agricultural sector. What is the role of Government in helping these farmers when they cultivate and go through all the hustle in putting food on our table? So, it is important that as we also try to establish an agricultural farm, Government must also play its critical role and not turn its back on these farmers. We talk about yam, rice, maize and cocoa.
So, there is something serious happening at the agricultural sector that I believe we also have to take a critical look at. Yes, we can have PPP or a Fund being set up, but the critical role of the Government in ensuring that they provide these incentives for these farmers for them to also continue to hold us down as a nation. It cannot be rhetoric all the time, Mr Speaker. It cannot also be lamentations all the time. Once we have a problem, we must fix it. I support the maker of this Statement in this regard and I believe that other Members of Parliament will also contribute effectively to this Statement.
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.
Hon Hamza Adam
Kumbungu
Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to contribute to this very important subject under discussion and to thank the maker of this Statement for touching a very important and sensitive matter, which has to do with financing for smallholder farmers.
Mr Speaker, as the maker had it spot on, the chunk of the food we get from this country comes from the smallholder farmer. The smallholder farmer plays a critical role in providing food for the people of this country. Unfortunately, they go through a lot of difficulties. They have numerous challenges and then financing is one of the critical challenges that the smallholder farmer faces. So, there is a need to find a way of addressing this critical matter. Financing smallholder farmer has been a perennial problem. It has been long outstanding. There have been a lot of interventions to support smallholder farmer to be able to enhance farming.
Unfortunately, a lot of these interventions have not been successful and one of the critical challenges is the fact that the high interest rates that normally come with the loans makes it very difficult for the smallholder farmer to be able to access the funding.
Mr Speaker. I worked closely on a Millenium Development Authority (MiDA) project, which was supposed to commercialise smallholder farmers. But one of the difficulties that the project faced had to do with financing. They took the farmers through the starter packs, which was very successful and very promising. But when it got to the time of providing financing or loans for the farmers, it was a big problem. Because we noticed that a lot of the farmers were running away because of the high interest rate. There is a need to look at this particular issue and see how we are going to make financing accessible and affordable for the smallholder farmer.
Mr Speaker, in conclusion, it is important to ensure that we are able to address the following challenges so that the smallholder farmer is able to stay in business and continue to feed us as a country. One of the challenges in commercialising a smallholder farmer is the fact that they have fragmented lands, which makes it difficult for them to commercialise. So, there is a need for the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to see how they can put them into a cooperative so that they can have their land together and do commercial farming.
The other important thing is the food glut. As we stand now, the country is battling with a food glut because we do not determine prices for our produce, which is very important. So, we must find a way as a country to see how we can fix prices for food produce, because the farmers cannot predict how much they will sell their produce. It is very challenging. They invest so much, and when they harvest, they are not able to sell or get realistic prices for their produce.
The other important thing we have to do is to consider the rural industrialisation. We should find industries that are suitable for a particular place and grow them so that the farm produce can be transformed into a more marketable product for them. So, for example, if one comes to the Northern Region, we have a potential for producing—
Hon Nana Osei-Adjei
New Juaben North
Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to contribute to this brilliant Statement made by our Colleague from Kpando, Sebastian Deh.
Mr Speaker, this Statement exposes a painful truth about our smallholder farmers and what they go through. For decades, as a country, we have paid lip service to the support of our smallholder farmers, especially in financing. Our sisters, like Kenya, have been able to move on from not financing smallholder farmers to an era where smallholder farmers can access facilities within days, not weeks, but days. They have been able to build a proper digital platform for the smallholder farmers.
Mr Speaker, if you may bear with me, the previous Government started a digital project which would have been very solid for our smallholder farmers. But I know that when we come back, we will be able to do that. Banks in this country should be able to develop tailormade products that will help our smallholder farmers. I was intrigued to read from his Statement that, with your kind permission, I may read: “Mr Speaker, we cannot overlook the critical role of women and youth in agriculture. Women constitute the majority of our smallholder farmers”.
Mr Speaker, I am being mindful of Order 93(5). If women constitute the majority of our smallholder farmers, I would advise that this Statement should be taken with keen interest in the sense that their own Government told all of us that they were going to establish the Women’s Development Bank within six months. If this bank had been established, our women would have access to facilities that would help our smallholder farmers. So, I advise the maker of the Statement to ensure that it reaches the doorsteps of the Flagstaff House.
Mr Speaker, our Deputy Minister for Finance also came here and told us that there are banks that are offering facilities at a rate of 10 to 11 per cent per annum. Meaning there are banks in this country that can help our smallholder farmers. So, I also entreat the maker of the Statement to also make it available to our Deputy Minister for Finance so that our women will be able to see the light of day.
Thank you very much.
Hon Emmanuel Kwaku Boam
Pru-East
Mr Speaker, thank you.
I want to seize this opportunity to thank the maker of the Statement and also bring to the fore some of these things that are plaguing our farmers. Especially when he mentioned Opportunity International Savings and Loans Ltd. For the past 20 years, they have been committed to the farmers. And it is across wherever their branches can be found. Unfortunately, agriculture happens to be the only way that the majority of Ghanaians can be employed. Yet, successive governments come and fail to address this particular challenge.
This has actually affected how our young farmers and women appreciate farming in our country. Most of our women are persistent farmers. They do not farm large scale, yet it is very difficult for them to access credit. What most of this micro scheme does is to train whoever is coming for funding from them. So, they help in imparting a skill, open an account, and then they cultivate into them the habit of saving. There is a direct link with this type of funding and financial inclusion. Financial inclusion has an impact on economic development.
Mr Speaker, when you look at the maker of the Statement, what has been put before us, it is clear that there are certain pertinent produce like pepper, maize, vegetables, and other things that most of our women are into. These are things that we can easily support our women to go into. Without necessarily having to fall on importation or having to go to our neighbouring countries to bring them. I do not want to recall this unfortunate incident where our people from Ghana went to the neighbouring country to bring tomatoes, and the unfortunate happened. But this is the crux of the matter; when we do not pay attention to funding and also supporting these young women in agriculture, these are some of the emergencies that come our way.
We want to state that as a country, if we indeed want to reduce the unemployment rate, this is the way to go. Because when we have a woman in farming, it is not just about the woman, but whatever she gets out of farming comes to affect a whole family. And that is the way our mothers have supported us till this time. Anyone who comes from any agricultural environment will see that women play a critical role in having to raise their families up with the menial sales they get from their farm produce. So, helping them access credit is just not about the bank trying to make gains off them, but it is rather a way of bringing potential people to have a sustainable lifestyle.
It is time for our rural banks and microcredit facilities to also turn their attention to some of our communities and support them. Sometimes, most of them even charge unrealistic interest rates. So, in the end, when they support the farmer, at the end of the day, he or she is unable to pay and then it becomes a delinquent and non-performing loan. We would want to state that in as much as we are looking at supporting farmers, we should also look at practical ways of giving credit to our women and financing our people, so that they can pay back. When it comes to my Constituency which is Pru East, there are rural banks that support pepper farmers.
It is very good because they look at the climate condition and then they support them. We should also factor the climate conditions that our farmers go through. Let us begin to support them with irrigational facilities, so that even within the whole year, we can have this farming going on.
Mr Speaker, we thank the maker of this Statement and I believe this Statement would not end up on our shelves as always, but we would put it into action. So that the ordinary Ghanian is supported. Thank you very much.
Hon Jerry Ahmed Shaib
Weija-Gbawe
Mr Speaker, thank you for this opportunity. I would want to take this opportunity to thank the maker of the Statement, who is the Member of Parliament for Kpando.
Mr Speaker, a cursory look at what is happening in respect of smallholder farms, one would advert to, first of all, the problems they are confronted with. Largely, it has to do with issues of land litigation. When they are dealing with about five-acre land, somebody comes and says that he is the owner of the land and then they end up having all manner of litigations.
Mr Speaker, beyond the litigation is also the issue of access to financing. When they get the financing, as difficult as that may be, they are also expected to pay a lot of interest on those funds. Mr Speaker, the other aspect is also the issue of drought. There are a lot of environmental issues and they end up having issues of drought when farming.
Mr Speaker, 90 to 95 per cent of farming activities are within these remits. Therefore, one would expect that farms in Ghana, which are about 90 to 95 per cent are small holder farms. They produce majority of the food crops that we keep talking about such as maize, cocoa, cassava, yam, rice, cocoa and plantain.
Mr Speaker, in recent times, all these staple foods I have mentioned, especially rice, yam and maize, these farmers are having a problem to even transport them. Apart from transportation, they are not getting people to buy them. The market is virtually non-existent. So, this is the right time for the maker of the Statement to have brought this it to the fore, for Government to take a critical look as to how they would support these smallholder farmers.
Mr Speaker, most cocoa farmers have virtually abandoned their farms. They are more excited about giving out their farms for mining activities and not just the normal mining activities, but rather galamsey. When you have a farmer who expected the Government of the day to have given him or her GH₵6,000 per a bag, as promised, then, that farmer goes back home and now gets GH₵2,500—One can understand what is happening. A lot of them are suffering from high blood pressure and stroke. They are giving them interests that they are unable to pay. The roads are not accessible for them to be able to transport their commodities or their products into the markets where they can be purchased. There is no money for people to even sell their rice, cocoyam and yams. That was the reason why my respected Leader even had to come and show to this House that this is yam, cocoa, maize and rice. We are not getting money to buy them.
Mr Speaker, there is food drought and the worst part is that they always have the President promising them that he would sink boreholes for them. How do you sink boreholes for the 90 to 95 per cent of farmers who are in Ghana? Sink boreholes in these modern times?
Mr Speaker, we need to pay critical attention to all these matters and let us have a solid vision for our smallholder farmers. Let us move from giving money to a Ministry that they should give GH₵ 71 million to pay social media experts, when they can give this money to smallholder farmers. They should stop getting on private jets to go and deal with issues elsewhere when we need to support smallholder farmers.
Mr Speaker, I would pray that this Statement be remitted to the Presidency, for them to know what is happening to smallholder farmers. So that they can take critical look at it and solve the problems the Ghanaian people are facing.
I thank you very much for this opportunity.
Hon Rockson-Nelson Etse Kwami Dafeamekpor
South Dayi
Mr Speaker, let me commend the Member for Kpando for such an important Statement.
If one travels from Dabala all the way to Anloga in the Volta Region and from Anloga all the way to Keta, you have nearly every household with a farm dotted along the lagoon front. If you travel from Apam all the way to Cape Coast, you have families that have farms dotted along the highway. If you travel from Mpraeso through Asaka to Tafo then, to Enchi in the Kwahu area, you have families that have farms dotted along the highway. As for the entire Afram Plains region, that is the breadbasket of the nation.
Mr Speaker, when you are on a flight and you are about to land at the Tamale Airport, the entire Tamale metropolis is surrounded by farmlands. There is practically farming going on everywhere. So, the focus of the Statement is for us as a people to fashion a deliberate policy to be able to support the small farm holders. But how do we do it? We have introduced policies like youth in agriculture. But how do we mobilise the youth to participate in agriculture for production, feeding, and industry? In addition to the proposals contained in the Statement, I believe that as a people, we should be able to have block farming. It simply means that we should farm in lots. What does it mean?
For instance, in South Dayi, we should be able to acquire 100 acres stretch of land and subdivide that into about 10 acres each, into subplots and reduce those 10 acres into different crops, if that is the case and assign, say, two tractors to this block farm in South Dayi. This would allow the youth to acquire these 10-acre subplots and reduce them into whatever crops that they want to engage in.
Mr Speaker, by this, if all the 261 districts can have a minimum of 100 acres of farmland turned into a block farm, that will amount to having in excess of 2,610 acres of land reduced into block farming. What that also means is that data collection becomes easy.
In fact, the farmers can access credit electronically, as is done in Rwanda, Tanzania and Kenya. We do not need to send any officer to the farm to go and collect data, because the financial institutions can simply, with the use of Google Maps, zoom in and look at the size of the farm, which are all calculable with the use of Information Technology. We can determine which crop is under cultivation and the size of the farm.
Mr Speaker, the maker of the Statement also spoke about climatesensitive farming methods. In fact, a couple of years ago, the Akufo Addo government introduced greenhouse farming and I know that equipment was distributed to a lot of farmers. Now, we cannot find them. We have imported a lot of tractors into this country for purposes of distribution to farmers. We cannot find the tractors. So, we need to be very deliberate about this.
Mr Speaker, if I may have your backing, I think we should refer the Statement to the Committee on Food and Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs for them to consider and bring a report and see whether we can engage the ministry to pilot block farming in a couple of districts, to see how it goes.
Mr Speaker, with these words, we want to thank the Member for the Statement.
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