Day: November 10, 2023

The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) says it is still in the process of securing the syndicated loan for the 2023/24 Crop Season and has received firm assurance from bankers. In a statement COCOBOD said it initially planned a two-prong financing for the 2023/2024 Crop Season to diversify its source of funding for the annual cocoa purchases. The strategy was therefore to use a pre-financing arrangement with the international buyers to raise an amount of US$400 million for purchases at the beginning of the Season in September 2023. A statement issued in Accra said these initial funds were expected to be augmented by an additional US$800 million loan from a syndicate of lenders by the end of November 2023. However, it said after engagements with buyers for several weeks, the arrangement was discontinued. ‘Thus, since the beginning of the Season, cocoa purchases have been financed with non collateralized cocoa sales proceeds. The statement said as a matter of fact, the Board had so far received firm response from its bankers in this regard, and the Cocoa syndicated Loan had been laid in Parliament for consideration and approval. ‘We wish to use this medium to assure our stakeholders that the necessary arrangements have been made to secure enough funding for cocoa purchases for the year under review,’ it said.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Tamale Central Constituency has commended Mr Salifu Sule, Metropolitan Chief Executive of Tamale, for his support to the constituency during the Presidential primary campaign. In a statement, Mr Ahmed Faisal, the Constituency Secretary, thanked Mr Sule for providing all electoral area coordinators, polling station officers, Constituency officers, 1,000 food packs for the Constituency. It also thanked him for donating Ghc20,000 cash during the voter’s exhibition exercise by the Electoral Commission recently. The Constituency said the support was timely, helpful and a huge intervention for the Constituency. On his part, Mr Sule said it was his duty to support the party when the need arises.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI) in collaboration with the GIZ Trade Hub will on November 15 host the GNCCI Women’s Conference 2023 in Accra. The Conference is to educate women-led/women-owned businesses on the protocols and implementation of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement and discuss challenges faced by women in the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) sector within the context of Agreement. The event, supported by the GIZ Trade Hub, is on the theme: ‘Making AfCFTA Work Through A Deliberate Inclusion Of Women.’ It is also to explore opportunities presented by AfCFTA for women entrepreneurs, interact with women entrepreneurs to understand their challenges and preparedness for trading under Agreement and present policy recommendations for Ghana’s contribution to Agreement Protocols on Women and Youth. A statement issued in Accra and copied to the Ghana News Agency by Madam Grace Akosua Dzeble, Head of Marketing, GNCCI said the conference aimed to address the challenges faced by women entrepreneurs in the SME sector within the context of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). It said the African Union’s Report on ‘Unlocking the Potential of African Women to Grow their Enterprises’ underscored the persistent challenges women face in business due to various factors, including unequal access to education, production resources, and trade facilities. The statement said despite these hurdles, women contribute significantly to the sector, forming about 44 per cent of the Micro Small and Medium Enterprise sector in Ghana, according to the World Bank report. It said a baseline research conducted by CUTS International in 2022 highlighted that women were the most uninformed about the details and benefits of the AfCFTA. It said in the past three years, the GNCCI had led several national programmes to prepare Ghanaian businesses to take advantage of the AfCFTA. ‘Recognising the need for more focused and continued support for women-led businesses, the Chamber is organising the GNCCI Women’s Conference with support from GIZ,’ it added.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Korea International Corporation Agency (KOICA) is set to construct a Multipurpose Processing Facility at Winneba in the Effutu Municipality of the Central Region next year to process and store vegetables to prevent post harvest losses. Aside the multi purpose processing facility, a training centre for stakeholders, including farmers, processors and technical staff, would be constructed at Winneba to train the stakeholders on best practices of processing and storing fresh vegetables. The move, the second phase of KOICA’s support to raise the standard of living of farmers in the Region and the Country at large, would process vegetables and also store them to keep them fresh. The 95 million dollar project dubbed ‘Strengthening Agribusiness value chain for local economic development.’ Dr Peter Omega, Regional Director of Agriculture, who disclosed this, said the Department was in collaboration with the Ministry of Trade and Industry to ensure that the facility was well utilised to achieve its purpose. He was briefing Heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) when the new Chief Director of the Central Regional Coordinating Council, Mr Michael Owusu Amoako, held his maiden meeting with them. The meeting was for the Chief Director to officially introduce himself to the heads during which the latter briefed him of their activities and challenges. The first phase is a Rice Value Chain Support Programme (RVCSP) launched in 2021 and being implemented in five beneficiary districts in Gomoa East, Assin Fosu, Assin North, Assin South and Twifo Atti Morkwa to improve the quality of life of rural rice farmers through increased yields. The rice project, which is also to deploy capacities of the KOICA in the rice value chain intervention through machinery and equipment and knowledge and skills training programmes to increase production, was scheduled to end in December 2023 but had been extended to next year. Touching on the activities of the Department, he mentioned that it offered technical support to farmers in the Region, who were mostly into citrus, cocoa, coconut, oil palm, vegetable farming, fishing and aquaculture. The Region which has the longest coastline of 150 kilometres with vibrant fishing activities would have its local economy changed for the better if Agriculture was well supported. Dr Omega announced that a Chinese Company, the TIAST GROUP, had expressed interest to process coconut husk into charcoal and also establish processing facilities for District Assemblies which would want to have factories to process cassava, sweet potato and coconut in their Areas to find the financial capital to get the equipment. He cited challenges of dwindling technical and supporting staff, finance and staff accommodation, which were hampering the department’s smooth operations. He said the Department was in touch with the National Service Secretariat to deploy technical staff to augment the work in the Region to make Agriculture attractive and beneficial to change the economic fortunes of the Region. The Chief Director, for his part, urged all Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies to be proactive and collaborate with the RCC to develop the Region.

Source: Ghana News Agency