$150 Million: Approved by the Board of the AfDB Group to the ETC Group Limited in enhancing Capital requirements and support of its Food Production Across 10 regions in the Landmass of Africa in bolstering for Smallholder Farmers

By Abdul Rahman Bangura–

NEW AFRICA DAILY NEWS (NADN) Freetown, Sierra Leone – The venture will assume the contour of a trade and agri-finance package encompassing a $75 million soft merchandise finance facility to finance the group’s pre and post- shipment working capital requirements, with a special emphasis on export-oriented actions. It furthermore comprises a $75 million agriculture value-chain program to boost agriculture production and productivity, by delivering expanded agricultural intakes and agronomic advisory assistance to local growers.

ETC is a pan-African agriculture coalition with a speck broadening across Sub-Saharan Africa, North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, trading millions of tons in soft commodities.

The primary heiresses of this intervention will contain smallholder farmers, a significant number being women and youth entrepreneurs across 10 of the African nations, whose productivity is anticipated to improve from the deployment of high-quality agricultural inputs. Rural women will also benefit greatly from this intervention.

Commenting on the loan, African Development Bank Vice President, Agriculture, Human, and Social Development, Dr. Beth Dunford, remarked; “working with an African agro-champion like ETC was critical towards achieving the Bank’s developmental goal to support millions of small hold small holder cross the continent and contribute to increased agriculture production and food security, in the process”.

Solomon Quaynor, Vice President for Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialization added that: “the Bank’s investment into ETC Group will go a long way in contributing to food import substitution by allowing ETC to process and package agricultural products locally while increasing value-addition of export-oriented products.”

Director General of the Bank’s Southern Africa region, Leila Mokadem noted: “The advent of COVID-19 has caused major disruptions in agricultural value chains worldwide. The proposed facility will therefore be a key enabler in supporting ETC’s build-back strategy on the African continent, specifically in LICs and Transition states”.

ETC Group’s operations cover 26 African nations. Their business activities enclose agricultural inputs, cash-traded products such as pulses and rice, exchange-traded products, logistics, and retail consumer goods.

For New Africa Daily News Abdul Rahman Bangura Reports,  Africa Correspondent