Namibia’s Agribank extend lending to communal farmers

The Agricultural Bank of Namibia establishes a fresh loan initiative to reach out to women, the youth population, and the formerly neglected entrepreneurs in the agricultural sector.

This loan scheme is open to salary earners and other groups of people who qualify for off-take agreements. These are agreements where buyers and sellers reach a deal to buy or sell a portion of the yields or produce. 

The scheme is intended as an enabler for people within the targeted category of the population, who are often neglected, to assume control of their personal economy by pursuing diverse forms of farming businesses (crop or livestock).

The CEO of Agribank, Sakaria Nghikembua, explained that all working-class women and youths with a stable enough source of monthly income, as determined by the institution, or those with sizeable standing purchase orders/fixed supply contracts; will be granted access to the loans they need to scale up production.

These loans are factored into the N$357,4 million which Agribank put aside for loan disbursements until the first quarter of 2022.

To facilitate the disbursement, the lender had put three lending facilities in place: cashflow/contract lending, salary-backed loans, and relaxed collateral requirements for farmland.