With the farming season fast approaching, the Zambia Credit Guarantee Scheme met a team from the World Food Programme (WFP) to discuss the facilitation of finance for a section of small holder farmers that are part of a project being run by WFP. It was revealed that this section of small holder farmers who also acted as lead farmers were retailers of agro products such as seed, feriltizer and chemicals with a ready market among their fellow farmers within the area. Despite having a ready majet for these products, these lead farmers did not have the ready cash to purchase the chemcials owing to their poor cash flow before the commencement of the farming season. In addition, it was revealed that these same farmers usually acted as off takers by aggregating commodities produced by other farmers and selling it to the identified buyers. Similar to the case of inputs, it was revealed that these farmers needed a facility to pay of the farmers as they waited for the buyer to collect and pay for the aggregated commodity.
The two institutions will therefore identify a financial institution that can develop a project suitable for the farmers.