The ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries has signed an agreement with Equity Bank (Kenya) Limited to support farmers for the second phase of the Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme (ACGS) to the tune of Ksh300 million.
The signing of Phase II of the ACGS agreement marks the third time that the Ministry is partnering with Equity Bank, with the first being in 2008 through the Kilimo Biashara Partnership and the second being in 2011 through the ACGS Phase 1 agreement. ACGS aims at scaling up and magnifying lessons learnt throughout the previous years of implementation.
The partnership is a risk sharing arrangement where Government provides a guarantee fund to cushion the Participating Financial Institutions (PFIs) for any proven credit loss of the outstanding credit amount in default. In addition to credit, Participating Financial Institutions (PFIs) offer farmers other services such as capacity building, savings/deposits and linkage to crop insurance and markets.
The initiative, under the Public Private Partnership framework, will facilitate access to affordable financial services for the small holder farmers, thus spurring commercialisation of farming in a sector that has been plagued by low production, poor marketing, low financial literacy and misconception.
Speaking during the signing ceremony, Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries Cabinet Secretary Willy Bett said: “This signing ceremony clearly symbolises the strengthening of the Public Private Partnership between private organization and the Government. Our partnership with Equity Bank will help accelerate efficient and effective service delivery to low income beneficiaries in the agricultural sector thus bringing them into the formal financial system”
On his part, Equity Bank Chief Executive Officer Dr James Mwangi said the total Kilimo Biashara loans disbursed by the end of 2016 were over Ksh 7 billion having benefited 472,632 individuals since 2008.
“Kilimo Biashara has been a flagship partnership from which lessons have been used across the continent due to its impact to farming and related businesses,” Mwangi said.
“Implementation of Kilimo Biashara partnership also gave us an opportunity to enhance our technology as we realised that farmers required to do their banking closer to their farms so as to save on costs and time.”
“Equity Bank was the first bank to introduce agency banking in Kenya and currently have over 29,000 agents spread across the country. We have enhanced this with self-service channels such as Equitel and Eazzy Banking digital products that encourage banking anywhere anytime,” he added.
To support this process, the ministry will provide Policy guidance through the Inter-Ministerial Coordination Committee, mobilise and strengthen farmers groups, capacity building of players in various value chains, monitor scheme performance, report and follow-up.
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