The farmers used their farm produce, mainly grains for collateral.

Mr Hayatudeen Awudu Ibrahim, the Manager of the Bank, speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Bawku, said the bank had supported the farmers with the needed loans to enable them delay sales of their produce and also avoid the rush of selling without making profits.

He noted that the farmers went through a lot of stress when they were not able to get good market for their produce and the provision of the cash loan facilities would help them to produce more, to eradicate poverty and improve livelihoods.

Mr Ibrahim said BESSFA Rural Bank had started engaging more farmers for the next cropping season to ensure loan applicants met the time lines and targets of the bank as well as give the Bank enough time to prepare adequately, as part of its yearly core mandate to support the farmers.

He noted that the rural bank was expecting more patronage from the farmers in the new cropping season, to meet the targets of the bank.

"We expect the next cropping season to be a positive one and therefore we are making adequate preparations to work with the farmers', he reiterated.

Under the Warehouse Receipt System (WRS), the Bank Manager said the collaboration between the WRS, the Ghana Commodity Exchange (GCE) and the Rural Banks was ongoing and noted that more farmers had benefitted under the WRS package.

Mr Ibrahim pledged that more loans would be given to farmers as and when their produce was verified to qualify them under the collateralization arrangements.

The Warehouse receipt system is a document of title given to farmers after they store their grains in a certified Warehouse. The farmers are then able to present the receipt as collateral to secure financial assistance from the WRS partner banks.