Several months after its botched attempt to annex government.s stake in the Agricultural Development Bank, Stanbic Bank Ghana has announced its intent of expanding its business in Ghana into agricultural financing. "When we put in our bid for the ADB, many skeptics and opponents of our bid argued that if indeed we were keen on agricultural financing, we could do it on our own, without having to buy ADB...yes, we are to prove that we can do it" the Executive Director of Stanbic Ghana, Alhassan Andani, told participants at a roundtable meeting for editors and senior journalists in Accra on Wednesday.

The Stanbic decision clearly will challenge the hegemony of ADB in the agric sector, but certainly the ultimate winners in the competition that Stanbic's entry into the sector brings will be the farmers, and agric entrepreneurs, for whom access to affordable credit is a major setback in their businesses.

It appears Stanbic is making this decision, aware of the challenges that confront the agricultural sector, such as small land holding and the complexity of the land tenure system, the use of poor yielding seed varieties and planting materials, absence of processing and storage facilities, price volatility, which have all worked together to constrict the market and return low dividends to farmers and other actors in the sector.

"Standard Bank takes seriously its role as a facilitator of agricultural growth in Africa. We aim to demonstrate that to turn Africa into a bread basket - capable of sustaining itself through successful development initiatives, the private sector needs to roll up its sleeves and join the public sector as it works to build the agricultural capacity of the continent," says Tasker, the Group CEO for Standard Bank Africa.

Sharing insights into the current levels of agric lending in Ghana, Mr. Alhassan Adani, disclosed that the total volume of credit in Ghana's banking sector is in the region of GHC6.8 billion, out of which only 5.1% is taken up by agriculture. "This is the sad picture of a situation we want to turn around" he assured his audience.

Mr. Jacques Taylor, the Head of Agric Banking at Standard Bank Africa on his part, explained that Stranbic approaches agric financing from a value-chain perspective: from production, through harvesting, processing, packaging, storage, to marketing. This in his view is the only to make financial mediation in the sector meaningful and far-reaching.

Stanbic recognizes that most of the challenges that confront the agric sector can be addressed through policy, and has therefore pledged to work with government, the private sector, and Civil Society Organizations in a strategic partnership to make the sector attractable to credit.

Mr. Andani makes it clear that Stanbic does not intend to diagnose and prescribe solutions to the myriad of problems that confront agricultural development in Ghana, but assures that the bank is resolved to be a key partner in developing the sector and ensuring higher returns to farmers and agric businesses.

Answering questions from the media after the event, Mr. Tasker indicated that, as and when the opportunity presents itself, Stanbic will put in a bid for ADB. For now, it appears Stanbic is out to make a point before such opportunity comes up.