Dear Editor,
I refer to a letter published in your Monday, December 14, edition under the caption ‘Government should re-establish an agricultural development bank,’ by Dr C Kenrick Hunte, a former General Manager of GAIBANK, whose scholarship and experience I respect.
In as much as we both agree that in the past, commercial banks’ credit policies have not allowed them to take on the level of risk that the agricultural sector has not done its best to mitigate, I have to disagree with him that the solution to the problem is the re-establishment of an agricultural development bank.
Agricultural development banks in the region have had the reputation of operating at a sub-optimal level and have not been known to have propelled the agriculture sector to higher levels of productivity to warrant a call for their re-establishment.
Indeed the Symposium was aimed at defining risk factors faced by the agriculture sector and coming up with appropriate policies, the creation of risk mitigating instruments, and action plans to enhance the sector’s ability to cope with the new challenges it will confront and become more efficient users of borrowed funds.
Editor, the effects of climate change which are already upon us pose far too severe challenges to agricultural production for us to revert to actions that have been tried unsuccessfully in the past. The agriculture sector, as the agent of food security and an agent for economic and social development, merits the comprehensive attention that has been paid to it by the planners and participants of the Symposium.
Editor, having had discussions with the government, the producers, my fellow bankers and
officers of the World Bank and the IICA, I ended my address on a positive note, even mentioning a model of financing that has already been introduced in the cane-farming industry that has more risk mitigating features for commercial banks.
Though we should all wait on the release of the broad range of recommendations, I remain convinced that with the attention that is being paid to the sector, especially with regard to risk-mitigating measures, commercial banks and the agricultural sector can find a harmonious and mutually beneficial way to move the sector forward.
Yours faithfully,
John Tracey
Chairman
Guyana Association of Bankers
