A social impact company, which focuses on Faith-based farmer groups in the spirit and the principles espoused in Ladauto Si, the Encyclical of Pope Francis, is set to commence full-scale operations this farming season, which begins from April 2022, in the Savelugu Municipality, Nanton and Kumbungu Districts in the Northern Region after a period of preparatory work.
Farmsure Alliance LBG, incorporated in 2019, aims to facilitate access to financial security products such as Savings, Loans, Insurance, Investment and Pension (SLIIP) by farmers to improve on their financial security and ultimately impact on food security of our nation.
Using three pilot crops, namely maize, soya beans and shea as the means to access to financial services, the company seeks to achieve its aim by deploying technology to build a farmer focused e-agriculture platform that will provide market access at prices that guarantee a living income and ultimately financial security for farmers.
Speaking at the inaugural meeting of the Board of Directors of the company recently, Mr. Godwin Atulley-Kandi Abotisum, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) noted that the average Ghanaian farmer is the least earning worker with subsistence and peasant farmers earning below the minimum wage.
He said with such meagre incomes, the financial security of the farmer is threatened as they are unable to access SLIIP and also unable to pay for additional skills or access financial literacy which have ripple effects on their families now and successive generations of their families.
In view of this, he said Farmsure Alliance LBG seeks to provide financial security to farmers in its operational areas through the provision of products and services beginning with financial literacy and skills training.
He explained that this would also include the provision of farm inputs and access to markets when the farmers harvest their crops so that the prices they get go beyond living income to ensure their financial security. He explained that if the farmer is able to get prices beyond or afford the living income, they will be able to afford financial security services.
In addition, he said the company will offer micro-credit and micro-insurance schemes for farmers at a rate which is able to cover the loan facility which also include an insurance cover for their health needs and accidents on and off their farms.
He disclosed that 1,157 farmers will benefit from this package this farming season with plans to increase this by five times in 2023 and to 72,900 by the end of the first phase of the business model of their 5-year Strategic Plan.
The CEO who is also a member of the Board of Directors, further stated that being a social impact company focusing on faith-based farmer groups, Farmsure Alliance LBG would collaborate with the Archdiocese of Tamale which launched a 10-year Strategic Plan last year in rolling out their services, adding that their micro-credit and micro-insurance schemes would be extended to particularly Catholics in the Archdiocese who are farmers.
In addition, he said farmers in the Tamale metropolis and Sagnarigu Municipality who have farms in the operational areas of the company would also benefit from their services. However, he stressed that they will not limit their services to only Catholics.
Speaking of the issue of funding to roll out their services, he said as a start-up, they would be able meet the most basic needs of their clients, expressing optimism that as they increase their scope of crops in the coming years, they will be able to grant bigger loans.
Dr. Chrysogonus Anab, a Senior Lecture at the University for Development Studies who is the Chairman of the six-member Board, urged management and staff to be willing to make the necessary sacrifices in this early days to grow the company, advising them to team up with other companies which are already into the venture in order to learn from them.
On behalf of his colleagues, he promised that the Board would offer management its fullest support to enable it achieve its aim.
The other members of the Board are Mr. Joseph Nchor, a Development Practitioner who is the Vice Chairman, Mr. Paul Chinatra Esq., who is also the Legal Advisor, Mr. Timothy Amangbey Akanpabadey, a Development Practitioner and Samuel Awugah, a Public Relations Practitioner who is also the Chairman of the Tamale Archdiocesan Laity Council.
