AGRICULTURE FINANCING IN ZAMBIA – CREDIT WINDOW

AGRICULTURE FINANCING IN ZAMBIA – CREDIT WINDOW

BY Kasote Singogo
PIONEER INFLUENCE FOUNDER

The new dawn government recently announced a CREDIT WINDOW as a policy initiative to enable farmers to access loans. This initiative is bound to fail because it is not clear how the credit window will be administered who for example will be disbursing these loan under this window? And who will appraise the loan and what is the criteria for the loan access.

LIMA BANK which received its death blow by the MMD government was a specialized institution designed to deal with loan appraisal, loan disbursement and loan administration.

These are necessary activities in the administration of public funds.

Without an institutional framework free of political biases and transparency of appraisal and disbursement the window is bound to shatter to smithereens.

Governments have come and gone and none has been brave enough to undertake comprehensive reforms in the agriculture subsector to introduce real reforms.

The new dawn government has introduced the Comprehensive Agriculture Support Transformation Programme (CATSP), which is designed to transition from FISP to the CREDIT WINDOW.
LIMA BANK and NAMBOARD are two key institutions which must be brought back with a private sector agenda modeled into it.

Zambia fails to see that the FRA is not a marketing agency and must not be treated as such.

Treating it as such explains the policy fault lines experienced at the present moment.

Attempts to mold the FRA into a marketing agency is wrong and only contributes to the chaos in the agribusiness sub sector.

LIMA BANK was financing agency ie in the agro sub sector and the NAMBOARD was a marketing agency in the subsector.

Both are required to contribute meaningfully in the agriculture subsector as a business. –

Rainbow Newspaper Zambia Limited    🇿🇲 Rainbow Newspaper Zambia Limited   edition 113 Monday 27th November 2023 to Sunday 3rd December 2023 ….”Unraveling the Truth- Promoting Diversity in News Coverage”. www.rainbownewszambia.com / www.kwilanzinewszambia.com

Kasote Singogo  Naku Chivuno  Salome NakazweWendy Chivunga