The USDA-Ghana Poultry Project (GPP) supported Entrepreneurial Savings and Loans Groups (ESLG) have raised almost GHc865,264.00 this year to fund their activities. the ESLG are 73 in total.
The 36 direct GPP groups established mobilized a total contribution of GHS 244,772.00. While the WIPVaC –Apex sponsored grant groups of 37 also raised a total of GHS 620,492 .00 to support their businesses with an additional total seed money of GHS 72,000 (contribution share of GHS 60,000 by GPP and GHS 12,000 by WIPVaC).
Announcing the figure during a national learning forum organized by USDA-GPP in Accra, the president of the Apex body of Women in Poultry Value Chain (WIPVaC), Dr. Victoria Norgbey said it is obvious that communities are ready to support themselves through the provision of soft loans to support their businesses.
She noted that the ESLG has helped to sustain poultry farmers businesses, adding that, “the impact here is that instead of going to the bank to take loans with high interest, the members decide among ourselves how interest rates should be set, sometimes 10%, depending on the group”.
Dr. Victoria Norgbey, WIPVaC President
She therefore cautioned members not to over price the loans to facilitate repayments and sustainability of the scheme.
One very important thing to bear in mind is affordability of your loans, if you gave out your loans on high interest rate then you defeat the purpose of the scheme”, she cautioned.
She explained that membership of the ESLG is voluntarily and community based to ensure a common purpose and sustainability. She advised the group members that, for the ESLG to succeed, they need to know and trust one another.
The learning forum which is the first of its kind is a platform to bring together savings and loans groups that were formed during the implementation of the Ghana Poultry Project to share knowledge and learn best practices from among themselves.
Christian Koduah, a coordinator of USDA-GPP, said the learning forum provides a platform to afford the groups who are mainly poultry farmers to voice out their challenges experienced during the formation and implementation of the ESLG as well get to know how others overcame similar challenges.
He explained that the formation of the ESLG was aimed at providing self-grown financial support for their poultry businesses.
Participants at the learning forum
Basically, it was for them to save and give themselves loans to support their businesses,” he emphasized.
He noted that access to finance and the cost of finance has been a challenge for most businesses and poultry farmers are no exception. “It also difficult if not impossible for poultry farmers to get insurance for their line of business because of the risks involve,” he added.
Participants at the learning forum
Participating in the learning forum via zoom were groups from Bono East, Bono, Ashanti and Upper West regions. In total, the ESLG has 36 groups within Accra, 13 in both Ashanti and Bono regions. A total of 153 members (78 males and 75 females) participated in the learning forum.
An ESLG is usually a group of 15-30 people, who pool their savings in a fund from which members can borrow at an interest rate during an agreed period of time.
The social benefits provided by ESLG are well known. The most important one is a reinforced sense of agency for especially women. Thanks to the ESLG, women are able to manage businesses and participate with greater confidence in households and community decisions.
Many reports also highlight more harmonious relationships between spouses, thanks to the support ESLG provide to households for food, health, and school fee coverage.
GPP
Carianne de Boer, Chief of Party-GPP
The five-year Ghana Poultry Program (GPP), funded by the United Sates Department of Agriculture (USDA) and implemented by ACDI/VOCA and TechnoServe, was established to increase the competitiveness of the domestic production and processing of poultry meat and eggs through the increase of agriculture productivity in the poultry value chain through capacity building, improving input markets, and promoting strategic investments and private-public partnerships as well as increase the trade of poultry products by improving product quality, increasing production efficiency, and improving market linkages.
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