Fidelity Bank Ghana has called for a fundamental shift in how Ghana finances and structures its agricultural sector.
The report indicates that fidelity Bank Ghana has called for a fundamental shift in how Ghana finances and structures its agricultural sector.
It further notes that it argues that the country’s path to agricultural self-reliance lies not in producing more, but in capturing more of the value created from what it already grows.
The call was made at the Ghana Horticulture Expo 2026, held under the theme “From Soil to Sovereignty: Building Ghana’s Agricultural Self-Reliance Through Innovation,” where the bank participated across multiple sessions as a long-standing partner of the event.
Delivering an address on behalf of Managing Director Julian Opuni, John-Paul Taabavi, Divisional Director for Corporate and Institutional Banking, framed the challenge through a single comparison.
Ghana’s non-traditional agricultural exports generated approximately US$710 million in 2025, while cocoa paste alone generated approximately US$789 million over the same period.
“Both were produced from the same soil, the same country, the same growing season,” Mr Taabavi said. “Yet the value of a single product exceeded the value of an entire category of agricultural exports. The difference lies largely in what happens after the harvest.”
He argued that agricultural sovereignty does not mean producing everything domestically, but rather controlling more of the value Ghana creates, retaining more income within the economy, and ensuring more Ghanaian businesses participate in the wealth generated by Ghanaian agriculture.
With non-traditional exports reaching approximately US$5 billion in 2025 and Ghanaian products now reaching 152 countries, he noted that demand is not the constraint.
The greater challenge sits between the farmer and the market, i.e., cold storage, aggregation, processing, packaging, logistics, quality standards, certification, reliable energy, and access to appropriate finance.
Mr. Taabavi also challenged conventional thinking on agricultural risk.
“We often say agriculture is risky. But is agriculture inherently risky or are we sometimes creating risk through the way we choose to finance it?” he asked, calling for financing structured around production cycles, verified transactions, credible off-take agreements, and warehouse receipts rather than traditional collateral alone.
He pointed to the Fidelity Export Club, established in 2023 in partnership with the Federation of Associations of Ghanaian Exporters (FAGE), as a working model.
The initiative now supports more than 400 exporters and farmers, and through the BRIDGE-in-Agriculture programme with the Mastercard Foundation and the bank’s broader SME channels, Fidelity Bank has disbursed more than GHS 160 million to FAGE members.
By the end of July 2026, members within the bank’s SME portfolio had generated approximately US$40 million in foreign exchange inflows.
