Farmers borrow money to improve and maintain farm infrastructure, to upgrade equipment, to finance the production of the coming season’s crop, to buy in animals or to buy more land. Briefly put, they use borrowed money for recapitalisation, production and expansion. The banks will lend farmers between 60% and 80%…
Tea producers in Uganda are struggling against a liquidity crisis that is characterised by high operational costs as farmers cannot access affordable capitalisation loans. Mabale Growers Tea Factory Limited Managing Director Roger Siima said despite the booming tea business, financial institutions are not supporting the sector. “We face challenges that…
The Food Reserve Agency (FRA) owes K600 million to farmers who supplied it with maize during this year’s marketing season, said FRA executive director, Chola Kafwabulula. Kafwabulula said the agency has already paid out K103 million and expects treasury to pay the balance soon. FRA exceeded its target of 500…
The World Bank will give Zambia US$150 million to support the development of the agriculture sector, said Ministry of Finance Permanent Secretary, Mukuli Chikuba. Chikuba said the money forms part of budget support for the next three years to solve urgent problems in the sector. Zambian Finance Minister Felix Mutati…
The Bankers Association of Zambia (BAZ) says commercial Zambian banks have started piloting the use of livestock as collateral. Many Zambians welcomed the move, saying it is hard to meet collateral demands set by banks. According to BAZ, the pilot programme is conducted in collaboration with the Dairy Association of…
There is a profitable opportunity for banks to finance small to medium-sized agricultural enterprises in southern Africa and globally, said Randall Brummett from the World Bank. According to Brummett, the average capital expenditure of aquaculture farms in Southern Africa is more or less $5 million, meaning most of the farms…
South Africa’s Land Bank wants to provide R1 billion worth of finance to black entrepreneurs in the 2018 financial year to invest in predetermined agricultural products like fruit and nuts. CEO TP Nchocho said the bank also wants to invest R500 million in specific food and agricultural processing industries which…
Michael Cordes, marketing specialist from South Africa, talks about important lessons he learnt from the late Bertie van Zyl of ZZ2 farming, probably the biggest field-grown tomato operation in the southern hemisphere. MAKING THE RIGHT CHOICES Smallholder farmers are always on the lookout for opportunities to grow and expand their…
Zambia’s Finance Minister – Felix Mutati – has again called on banks to expand customised financial services to rural smallholder farmers. The minister said better access to finance was critical to the government’s vision to drive diverse economic growth through agriculture. “Banks must ensure that smallholder farmers and women in…
