Quarterly Progress Report: Feed the Future Ghana Mobilizing Finance in Agriculture (MFA) Activity

MFA will leverage financial incentives to spur agricultural finance market behavior change and system reform, leading to more inclusive economic growth through agribusiness development. During the second quarter, the Activity team undertook a series of rapid technical assessments to kick-start upcoming activities and inform the intervention strategies. These assessments included evaluations of the business advisory services (BAS) and financial institution (FI) landscape, which validated that MFA's proposed methodologies would sufficiently motivate expanded engagement with agribusinesses in MFA's target value chains. The findings of these assessments will also be used to guide the development of MFA's capacity building programs for business advisory services providers (BASPs) and FIs. As a result of MFA's deal identification push this quarter, including publishing an expression of interest (EOI) for firms seeking financing and extensive outreach to enterprises in MFA's network, the Activity has developed a substantial pipeline of opportunities that can be facilitated next quarter as MFA operationalizes its pay-for-performance (P4P) incentive programs for BASPs and FIs. These efforts by the MFA team and its partners, Open Capital Advisors (OCA) and CrossBoundary (CB), resulted in the identification of 154 prospective micro, small, medium, and large enterprises (M-SMiLEs) seeking a combined $220 million in investment. The closure of these deals would impact more than 89,000 smallholder farmers, 80% of whom are in the Zone of Influence (ZOI). MFA initiated a series of procurements to onboard local partners, following the onboarding of international BASPs, OCA and CB in Q2 2021. A request for proposal (RFP) was published for the competitive engagement of local partners. Additionally, a database of M-SMiLEs seeking financing and another database of potential investors were developed to spur MFA's agriculture lending activities. The Activity's progress in the second quarter demonstrates its commitment to increasing the availability of commercial financing for agriculture in Ghana. The development of a substantial pipeline of opportunities and the initiation of procurements to onboard local partners are significant steps towards achieving MFA's objectives. The Activity's efforts are expected to have a positive impact on the lives of smallholder farmers and contribute to more inclusive economic growth in Ghana.