Con questo ulteriore finanziamento la BAD inietterà 100milioni di dollari nell'economia Africana
tramite la gestione dell'Export Trading Group con sede centrale in Kenya.
L'ETG dovrebbe finanziare l'attività di circa 6000 farmers sparsi in tutte le nazioni Africane al fine di promuovere l'esportazione dei loro prodotti.
Non sono note le condizioni finanizarie che regolano questa operazione e non abbiamo notizie particolari sulla nazionalità delle imprese straniere che
forniranno i farmers di prodotti chimici, mezzi meccanici, strutture agricole, etc. etc.
Certamente uni dei maggiori fornitori sarà la Cina ha da tempo un grande peso nell'agricoltura Africana.
I cinesi hanno acquistato "per un boccone di pane", non in senso letterario ma nel senso vero della parola, migliaia di ettari di terreno
agricolo in Madagascar.
Sarebbe quindi abbastanza logico che i benefici dei "prestiti" siano poi andati a sostenere l'economia e le aziende agricole cinesi
presenti in Madagascar.
Anche perché uno dei maggiori finanziatori della BAD è prorio la Cina.. guarda caso..
In Madagascar gli agricoltori delle comunità agricole di Antanimieva e Befandriana Atsimo dicono di
non esserla sentita di rifiutare le offerte cinesi perché temevano
che sarebbero stati comunque sfrattati e avrebbero quindi perso la loro terra.
Jean Renoavy, un agricoltore di Antanimieva, ha detto al canale televisivo che gli investitori hanno acquistato il
terreno dove pascolavano le mucche e che tre mucche che vagavano sulla terra ora di proprietà cinese
sono state ammazzate.
Ha aggiunto che in alcuni casi gli investitori avevano già iniziato a fare uso del terreno e che agli abitanti del posto è sembrato
di non avere altra scelta che firmare i documenti preparati dagli acquirebti Cinesi e prendere i pochi denari offerti.
The African Development Bank has signed a loan agreement for a soft commodity finance facility (SCFF) with the Export Trading Group (ETC).
This Facility is innovatively structured as two successive loans of US $100 million, each with a tenor of up to 2 years,
thus signifying the African Development Bank’s strong commitment to the promotion of agriculture in Africa.
This SCFF is one of the core Trade Finance instruments in the Bank that will provide pre- and post-shipment finance
along various stages of ETC’s commodity value chain operations in the 17 countries expected to benefit from the initiative.
The intervention will help local farmers and soft commodity suppliers grow their revenues and produce quality crops for export.
Specifically, the facility will be used to finance the procurement of identified agricultural commodities from over 600,000 farmers.
Upon purchase of the soft commodities, the SCFF will provide working capital to ETC thus enabling the company engage in
value addition/processing of the soft commodities such as cashew nuts prior to export, and provide funding to procure farm
inputs (mainly fertilizer components for blending) to be supplied to farmers so as to ensure consistency and quality of
the commodities being supplied to ETC.
This Trade Finance intervention along the agricultural value chain will enable the Bank to reach many
small-scale farmers indirectly through ETC, a pan African aggregator that has deep knowledge
of the market in which it has accumulated a 50-year track record; understands the agricultural
sector operational risks and is able to mitigate and manage them.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, Josephine Ngure, African Development Bank Director General
for the Southern Africa Region, said,
“The facility would also contribute to smallholder farmers’ access to inputs (seeds and fertilizers),
mechanization and access to international markets thereby ensuring significant revenues to farmers;
Originally established in Kenya in 1967, ETC’s operations connect commodities
sourced at the farm gate to local economies, from the local
economies to the broader marketplace and emerging markets to each other and the world.
ETC’s principal activities include:
The Group employs more than 6,000 people and has investments in bioenergy, farming, forestry and logistics
and its operations are present in 26 African countries.
As one of the largest commodity aggregators on the continent,
ETG plays a significant role in the promotion of agribusiness in countries where agriculture
is on average the biggest employer, providing in excess of 70% of total employment and 77% of all women’s jobs.
Through the implementation of innovative programmes such as this SCFF, the African Development Bank seeks to promote
private-sector development in line with its Ten Year Strategy (2013-2022) and the Trade Finance Program,
which aim to promote exports through support to agriculture and SMEs.
The initiative is also perfectly aligned with the Bank’s Financial Sector Development Policy and Strategy (2014-2019),
whose main priorities are to broaden and deepen Africa’s financial systems by putting finance at the centre of Africa’s productive capacity.
Lastly, by channeling financial resources into agricultural value chains, the Bank is scaling up its interventions
aimed at making Africa a net food exporter, self-sufficient in key commodities and operate commercially viable agribusinesses,
which is a core feature of the Feed Africa Strategy for Agricultural Transformation in Africa 2016-2025.
“This facility will significantly contribute not only in improving food productivity in Africa
but most importantly in value addition and the wide distribution of food across the continent using ETC’s broad distribution networks.
integration of poorer sections of the population into a sustainable process of economic growth
and development;
regional integration by developing sustainable platforms to supply local and regional markets;
and lastly it also has strong gender and youth impact as agriculture employs significant numbers of mostly youths and women,”
Ngure said.
farm inputs and farm implements, processing of agricultural commodities and distribution.
( BAD / G. Comerio )
