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Natasha Chamba, Business Reporter
ZIMBABWE’s premier agriculture finance institution, Agribank, is disbursing over $100 million for the 2018/2019 summer cropping season in an effort to increase productivity on farms.

This comes as Government, which wholly owns Agribank — in 2017 directed the financial institution to focus on its core mandate of financing agriculture.

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) last year transferred $6 million to Agribank in a bid to fund the Command Livestock scheme after a realisation that Homelink Financial Services, which it had given the facility earlier, had few branches to distribute the heifers nationwide.

Agribank chief executive officer Mr Sam Malaba said the bank continues to do well since it reverted to its core business in 2017 and this enabled it to cover more farmers and reduce non-performing loans (NPLs).

“The bank’s facilities for the 2018/2019 summer cropping season amounts to over $100 million with all crops covered and all farmers categories included,” he said.

“The financial institution had also partnered the Central Bank in loan facilities that attract a 10 percent interest and are payable within 12 months for working capital and up to 36 months for capital expenditure.

“The uptake of the RBZ and Agribank Value Addition and Business Linkages Facility to Farmers and Agro Processers has been good and under this $10 million facility, the bank has disbursed $9,4 million.”

Mr Malaba said the funds have supported farmers and entities involved in value addition of crops such as tomatoes, groundnuts, peas, tea and coffee including poultry production.

“Last year our target was $100 million which was to be disbursed but we ended up exceeding our target and this year we plan to do the same,” he said.

Since the turn of the millennium, Mr Malaba said, the absence of affordable funding on the market has been the major drawback to increased agriculture output in the country.

“The bulk of farmers who obtained land since 2000 have been finding it hard to access funding and this has hindered agricultural production,” he said.

Agribank highlighted that funding will entail financing of working capital, especially targeting farmers dealing in strategic crops like maize, soya, sugar cane as well as horticultural crops.

Mr Malaba said funding was in an effort to ensure the country reduces the import bill, as well as preserving the much needed and scarce foreign currency.

He said the bank has entered into contract farming, financing key and strategic crops such as soyabeans, maize and horticultural produce, supporting primary producers (farmers) and off-takers (corporates).

Mr Malaba said as part of widening output and boosting incomes, Agribank has begun financing fresh produce traders at Mbare (Harare), Renkini (Bulawayo), Kudzanai (Gweru), and other centres across the country.

The bank is also supporting the More Food Programme (Brazil Facility) under which more than 4 000 farmers have benefited under 36 irrigation schemes.

— @queentauruszw