The Sunday Mail
Livingstone Marufu —
CBZ Holdings has set aside US$70 million for the 2016/17 summer cropping season targeted at small-scale and large-scale farmers in a bid to transform the agriculture sector through the provision of accessible loans.
The loans would be availed at an average of 13 percent, which is significantly lower than what is being offered by other financial institutions.
Of the fund, US$50 million is designed to help farmers to acquire inputs such as seed and fertilisers and develop irrigation infrastructure while US$20 million is aimed at equipping smallholder farming techniques and overall productivity.
Over 800 000 smallholder farmers also got a fillip from Government which disbursed inputs worth over US$36 million for the current cropping season.
Smallholder farmers are seen as key to ensuring food security. CBZ’s support for the smallholder farmers is in tandem with the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)’s aspirations for financial inclusion aimed at embracing unbanked societies.
Mrs Laura Gwatiringa, the CBZ marketing and corporate affairs executive, told The Sunday Mail Business last week that the US$70 million fund would improve productivity and general welfare.
“(The) 2016/ 2017 summer season budget is US$50 million. US$26 million additional is for irrigation infrastructure development finance as well as related capex (capital expenditure) items like tractors . . . ,” said Mrs Gwatiringa.
Since January 2016, the bank advanced US$23,8 million for other farming activities which include horticulture, wheat, maize, piggery, poultry, soya, cotton, dairy, beef and crocodile farming. The funds were meant for farmers that fell short in the 2015/2016 farming season.
However, the advance was markedly lower than the US$337 million that the financial institution loaned out to horticulture, wheat, maize, piggery, poultry, soya, cotton, dairy, beef and crocodile farming during the 2014/15 period.
Mrs Gwatiringa said the bank is still disbursing loans to farmers as the season is still in its infancy. Agricultural experts believe the sector would grow by 5 percent on the back of good rains anticipated this season.
Farmer organisations say many farmers have planted their summer crops in time due to early rains that have hit most parts of the country. But with more rains expected to hit the country due to the La Nina effect, CBZ is likely to roll over to next season some facilities to farmers depending on their circumstances.
Mrs Gwatiringa said affected farmers’ positions will be analysed and “justifiable cases can be rolled over to the next season”. CBZ has also moved to finance horticulture to boost exports and consequently generate foreign currency.
The bank has since opened an agribusiness unit that specialises in offering financial solutions to clients to farmers.
Government is this year targeting to produce two million tonnes of maize from 400 000 hectares of land and most financial institutions have pledged their support for agriculture. More than US$598 million is expected to be channelled towards tobacco farming.
