Farmers across the country can now take cheap loans through the Warehouse Receipt System Council (WRSC) and Agriculture Finance Corporation (AFC), President Ruto has said.
Speaking at State House on Wednesday August 2, during a press briefing on subsidized fertilizer, Ruto said the move is aimed at helping low-income farmers boost their agricultural production.
The loans will use the Hustler Fund model, allowing borrowers to access loans with interest rates of below 10 percent.
“The credit will be provided at single-digit rates to reduce our cost of production further and enhance productivity,” He said.
How to access Safaricom interest-free loans of up to Sh. 100,000
The Head of State further said he would increase AFC’s budget from Sh2 billion to Sh10 billion to facilitate affordable credit to farmers.
AFC offers eight different loans to farmers, which include Machinery, Agribusiness, Livestock and Fisheries Development, Cash Crop loans, Horticulture and Floriculture Development loans, Water Development Loans, Seasonal Crop Credit, and School-Based Loans. To check the loan requirements, farmers can visit agrifinance.org.
WRSC loans are on the hand, available at the National Cereals and Produce Board. Farmers will be required to use crops they have stored as collateral to access the loans.
Farmers interested in the loan facility must submit applications in written form or hard copies or submit a soft copy to [email protected].
Once implemented, the loan facility is estimated to benefit over 3.5 million farmers, most of whom are small-scale farmers.
