The USAID-supported Feed the Future Ghana Mobilizing Finance in Agriculture (MFA) Activity held a Business Management Training for 120 members of Women in Poultry Value Chain (WIPVaC) in Kumasi, Ashanti Region on Thursday November 24, 2022. The workshop was to address constrains hindering their access to finance and help them to secure financing needed to sustain their agribusinesses and contribute to food security through the production and marketing of maize, soybeans, animal feed, poultry meat and eggs.
The key training topic was on records keeping for financial decision-making, and for business health determination including profit and loss; long-term business forecasting; and data evidence for accessing financing. In attendance were MFA-supported transaction advisors and partner financial institutions. The financial institutions used the platform to promote their financial products to the female-led poultry value chain actors.
“The training is one of several interventions designed by MFA in collaboration with WIPVaC to help members’ businesses with transaction advisory services to improve the management of their operations and make them finance-ready to attract investment to expand,” said Dr. Victor Antwi, Chief of Party, Feed the Future Ghana Mobilizing Finance in Agriculture Activity. The training will enhance their financial literacy and help them to keep good financial records and make them attractive to financial institutions and investors.
MFA will, through its network of transaction advisors, support WIPVaC member businesses to become ready to secure financing. Access to finance by the agribusinesses will provide a ready market to over 8,400 smallholder farmers that supply them with maize and soybeans – major raw materials for poultry feed production.
As of October 2022, MFA has facilitated $178.8 million to approximately 18,634 agribusinesses including 54% female-led enterprises in the MFA target value chains of maize, soy, groundnut, cowpea, cashew, mango, and shea. The US Government, also through the MFA, released $2.77 million under the COVID-19 Relief and Resilience Challenge Fund to support farmers and agribusinesses to mitigate the negative impacts of the pandemic and become more resilient against possible future shocks.
About USAID
USAID is the lead U.S. government agency that works to end extreme global poverty and enable resilient, democratic societies to realize their potential. USAID’s activities and strategic partnerships support Ghana’s journey to self-reliance and advance an integrated approach to development. USAID promotes accountability, sustainable systems, and inclusive development.
About Feed the Future
Feed the Future is the U.S. Government’s initiative to end global hunger. Led by USAID and driven by collaborative partnerships across public and private sectors, including 11 U.S. Government agencies, Feed the
Future addresses the root causes of poverty and hunger. This is done by boosting inclusive agriculture-led economic growth, resilience, and nutrition in countries with great need and opportunity for improvement.
About Feed the Future Ghana MFA Activity
The Feed the Future Ghana Mobilizing Finance in Agriculture (MFA) Activity is a USAID-supported activity that will improve access to finance for farmers and agribusinesses in Ghana. The Activity enables transaction advisors to support agribusinesses to secure loans and investment. MFA also assists diverse financial institutions to expand financing of farmers and agribusinesses, so that enterprises can purchase agricultural inputs (such as seeds and fertilizers), invest in processing, expand production, and scale operations. From 2020 to 2024, MFA is to help 81,493 enterprises access $261 million in finance, leading to $500 million in new sales. MFA is also supporting Ghana’s agricultural financing system to mitigate the negative impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on farmers and agribusinesses.
Source: USAID MFA
