Dr. (Mrs.) Irene S. Egyir (a lecturer of the University of Ghana) is the Project Coordinator of the MFCS which was motivated by her membership in the Accra Working Group on Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture) in Accra (Ghana)
The Multi-Features and Capacity-enhancing Services (MFCS) project is a micro finance and development NGO in Madina, Accra. The project was initiated in response to complaints by farmers in the city that there are too many bottlenecks to obtaining credit from the formal financial sector. A typical complaint, “We have been raising fowls for more than a decade in communities close to Accra.No bank considers us credit worthy but we tried each Christmas to raise at least 500 broilers, and then to keep 500 layers and cockerels for the rest of the year”. So, six males were given GHC1,000.00 (about USD700.00) to support their nine-week Christmas season broiler projects in December 2009. In February 2010 they completed the payment of principal and interest on schedule –a myth is broke! Immediately they received a higher amount, GHC1,500 (USD1000.00) for the year’s project. Apart from the financial service, the MFCS has linked the group to the Cooperative Department in the district and they have received pep-talks on organizing, leadership and effective financial management. It was expected that the second cycle repayment will follow the same rapid repayment of the first cycle. The reality, difficulty in sustaining repayments! The excuse, “We received our day old chicks late, so we have not been able to sell any mature chicks yet….I had to foot the funeral bills of my late relatives so I am down on cash,….my key buyer is yet to pay me so you also have to wait,… due to the rainy season the birds are dying, I am not well…, my wife has just given birth, I’ll come and see you soon, have patience with me…” Indeed, try reaching them on phone and the response is“the number you have dialed cannot be reached, …..the number is unavailable,…the mobile phone is switched off. Try visiting his home even during the dry season; the road network and surface is better experienced than described- pot holes, winding and dusty and you drive for over one hour for just a 20 km distance. Get to the house and “he has just gone out, she has traveled…”. Some experts have suggested that finance with education is what will work. A training needs assessment has been carried out by the MFCS project. Three modules on: “All lenders need to know about the urban agricultural producer”, “Getting credit, getting together” and “I want to pay back that loan so..” are being prepared. A good understanding of the borrowers’ peculiar challenges and lenders’ key bottlenecks should change attitudes, to make it easier to access and provide credit to urban agricultural producers.
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