Letshego Ghana, a subsidiary of Letshego Holdings Limited, has partnered with the Ghana Commodity Exchange (GCX) to facilitate and provide funding for farmers under the Warehouse Receipt Financing Scheme.
The strategic partnership was confirmed through a partnership agreement held between Letshego Ghana and the Ghana Commodity Exchange.
The Ghana Commodity Exchange’s Warehouse Receipt Financing Scheme is a financial instrument that receives, grades and stores farm produce and commodities for local farmers in the Ghana Commodity Exchange’s certified warehouse.
The farmers are then issued with certificates which enable them to use their stored farm produce as collateral for loans from Letshego Ghana – worth up to 70% of the commodities’ value in the certified warehouse for a maximum period of 6 months. This represents a great example of impact financing aimed at accelerating sustainable transformation of the local economy to deliver beneficial outcomes and improve lives for local players, regardless of their scale or size.
Letshego Ghana’s Director Geoffrey Kitakule said: “Letshego’s partnership with the Ghana Commodity Exchange will provide working capital for their farmers, brokers and aggregators in support of their operations. It will also enable farmers in the Accra Region to deliver more produce for storage in the warehouse operations, helping to reduce their financial burden and enabling them to focus on their core business, to grow and become more competitive in domestic and regional markets”.
The financial support from Letshego Ghana also helps to increase liquidity in the farming value chains by improving the financial security of farmers and stakeholders along the agricultural value chain – making the sector more resilient to market shocks.
The Chief Executive Officer-Ghana Commodity Exchange, Mrs. Tucci Goka Ivowi, said the Ghana Commodity Exchange remains committed to improving the livelihood of smallholder farmers and easing their burden, especially during the planting season, until they receive their returns upon harvest. “In meeting this objective, we will seek every opportunity to engage with the brokers, aggregators, smallholder farmers and other stakeholders in the agricultural value chain to understand challenges and provide solutions for farming communities across the country.”
The Ghana Commodity Exchange’s key goal is to link Ghanaian smallholder farmers with diverse agricultural and financial markets to ensure Ghana’s farmers secure competitive prices for their commodities, thus assuring market quantity and quality as well as timely settlement of their trade in ways that meet the people’s nutritional needs.
