President Mahama pledges lower interest rates for farmers

President John Dramani Mahama has reiterated his administration’s commitment to securing affordable credit for farmers, announcing moves to bring lending rates for the agricultural sector down to single digits.

Speaking at the National Farmers’ Day celebration in Ho, the President noted that high-interest rates have long prevented farmers from expanding their operations and fully benefiting from their labour.

“Currently, the capital and credit available to our farmers come at such high interest rates that if they take a loan, they virtually end up working for the bank, not for themselves,” he said.

He stressed that reducing the cost of credit for the agriculture sector is a top government priority.

“One of our prime objectives is to get credit to our farmers at the best possible rate—single-digit interest,” President Mahama stated. “This government will work to bring agricultural credit below 10 percent so farmers can access cheaper financing to produce more and feed our nation.”

The President praised the theme for this year’s celebration, “Feed Ghana, Eat Ghana, Secure the Future,” but warned that the country’s high food import bill continues to threaten national food security.

“Our food import bill of about $3 billion is still too high,” he said. “We need to grow more food for ourselves, and we can only do this if we provide a ready market for our farmers.”

He described as unacceptable the practice of importing rice for the School Feeding Programme while Ghanaian farmers are unable to sell their produce.

“It is unacceptable that suppliers of the School Feeding Programme buy rice from Vietnam to feed our schoolchildren when Ghanaian farmers are sitting on rice inventories from last year,” he said.

To address the issue, the President said he has directed that key food items for the programme be sourced locally.

“That is why I instructed that at least rice, maize, and poultry used in our School Feeding Programme must be procured from our local farmers,” he added.