Agri-Hub Rwanda holds second Agri-Finance Fair in Rusizi

From the 4th to 5th of December 2012, around 300 farmers and bankers from Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) attended the Agri-Finance Fair held in Rusizi District of the Western Province of Rwanda.

By Pascal Murasira, Agri-Hub Rwanda

The event was organised by Agri-ProFocus members in Rwanda, including IFDC, SNV, Terrafina Microfinance, KIT, ICCO, and Rabobank Foundation, who joined their efforts with RAB, PSF Farmers’ Chamber and One Acre Fund - Tubura to address one of the burning issues in farmer entrepreneurship: “Access to finance”. They also shared their personal experiences and best practices in agriculture.

According to Esperance Mukarugwiza, the coordinator of Agri-Hub Rwanda, the finance fair seeks to create a space where financial institutions, insurance companies and farmers could discuss access to agricultural financing and do business on a win-win consensus.

She said access to finance is still a major challenge to many farmers; something she said is as well affecting productivity of the sector. She also urged banks and farmers to find a common ground in order to modernise the sector.

At the occasion, farmers decried difficulties to get collateral to access loans and lack of skills in elaborating bankable agri-business plans. They also asked financial institutions to provide long-term credit lines to farmers in order to increase their earnings.
It was noted that various institutions are offering guarantees to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and farmers were subsequently urged to join cooperatives.

Farmers were also advised to improve their financial literacy and the financial management of their businesses. This leads to a track record on production and profitability and improves the rate of meeting the criteria for loan applications, it was observed.

At the closing of the exercise, awards were handed out to financial institutions which, by popular vote, are The Most Innovative (Bank of Kigali) and Most Popular (Duterimbere MFI), while The Best Stand award went to Banque Populaire du Rwanda.