GIZ FRSD launches expert group on scaling up digital, agricultural value chain financing

By Pa Modou Cham

The ECOWAS Fund for Regional Stabilization and Development (FRSD) Gambia pilot project implemented by GIZ, in partnership with CepRass launched an expert group to develop policy guidelines for scaling up digital and agricultural value chain finance capability in The Gambia.

The multi-stakeholder expert group launched today at the Bakadaji Hotel is designed to help identify obstacles and potential for agricultural value chain financing innovations in the Gambia, good practices and lessons to eradicate barriers for women, youth and marginalized groups.

Ms. Evelin Ayadi-Krenzer, ECOWAS FRSD Programme Manager thanked GIZ FRSD for the job well-done in promoting financing for smallholder farmers, adding is crucial in sustainable development.

“This Gambia project is a pilot programme. From here we will continue to extend our projects to Guinea Bissau, Niger and other countries to get lessons learn and ideas on those countries. We know agriculture is the backbone of most of the countries and smallholder farmers are struggling with access to finance,” she said.

She further stated that it’s a well-known issue and challenge and they are searching possibilities for finance, thus affirming that smallholder farmers are struggling with this critical barrier.

Abdoulie Jallow, team leader, ECOWAS FRSD Gambia pilot thanked his team for the milestone in the implementation of the ECOWAS FRSD project in the Gambia. He said that the development of the agricultural sector in the country has been very much tampered with by the lack of access to finance, particularly for young people, women and vulnerable communities.

“The aim of the launching is to create a conducive environment for financial inclusion and agricultural value chain finance. This is a noble initiative for all actors and the launch of the agricultural chain taskforce or expert group will help in the development of the agricultural value chain.

Ousman Touray, Senior Programme Officer of FAO also explained that if the country wants to be self-sufficient in food or for the economy to grow, agriculture has to change and farmers need to have access to finance.

He said that they started the idea in 2018 when they gave a value chain assessment for nine agricultural commodities in the country.

“This includes chicken, small ruminants, and mangoes, among others. These show that the country could provide food items if there is support. We also did access to financial analysis of commercial and microfinance institutions in the country. The biggest surprise was, out of the 25% of the entire commercial banks in the country, only 2-5% of their total investment is accessible to farmers.”

He noted there is a big risk factor that the commercial banks think that if they give monies to the farmers, they will not be able to pay it back.

At the edge of the event, there was a media roundtable on the poultry value chain where stakeholders dwelled on challenges and ways forward to better improve the sector.  

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