By Sainabou Sambou
The Ministry of Agriculture Friday, 6th August, 2021 signed a US$3 million contractual agreement with the Supersonicz Financial Limited and Gambia Teachers’ Union Islamic Cooperative Credit Union (GTU-ICCU) to strengthening the productivity and resilience of production systems and stimulating entrepreneurship in the Small Ruminant Production/Businesses.
The signing ceremony held at the Small Ruminant Production Enhancement Project Conference Hall in Brusubi was witnessed by departments of the Ministry of Agriculture.
Presiding over the signing ceremony of the contract on behalf of the Minister of Agriculture was Hassan Jallow, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture.
Mr Jallow disclosed that the facility provided to the two microfinance institutions must be utilised as intended saying the “beneficiaries must have access to the funds with efficient and effective mechanism of service delivery to the farmers and other operators in small ruminant value chain.”
He therefore urged NaLOA to play central role in the implementation process, while advising women and youths to take full advantage of this opportunity provided to them as this is proven as best financing mechanism to facilitate easy access to finance thus improvement of livelihoods and poverty alleviation.
The two MFIs, he said, should bear in mind that the amount given to them shall be returned in full as per the contract agreement and urged them to make funds accessible to all irrespective of political, religious inclination.
He encouraged the project team to work closely with the microfinance institutions to ensure the target beneficiaries are reached especially given preferences to women and youths of this country.
On behalf of the Honorable Minister of Agriculture, he thanked the Islamic Development Bank for the financial and technical support throughout the process and assured them of his Ministry unflinching support to ensure accountability and transparency in fostering effective management and utilization of the fund for the interest of all Gambians.
Mamud Njie, the project director said the signed contract between MoA and the two MFIs has marked a significant milestone in the implementation of the Small Ruminant Production Enhancement Project, as it has completed the setting up of the project (phase 1) and to begin the implementation phase (i.e. phase II) of the project.
He revealed that the two MFIs will implement this component on behalf of the project, which consists of providing participatory and sharia-compatible financing for actors operating or interested in small ruminant enterprises in the regions and the Banjul peri- urban areas.
He added that this was necessitated from findings conducted during project appraisal and discussions with government officials and other stakeholders that access to finance was a key challenge for all agro-pastoralists and other actors operating in various livestock value chains and the facility is made available only for small ruminant value chain actors.
He highlighted on the objective of the component of the project saying it is to support smallholder farmers, producers, and trader groups and individual interested to venture into small ruminant production, processing and marketing.
Further to that, he explained that the project has set aside a financing line of up to $3 million and in the form of revolving funds to two local Islamic microfinance practicing Institutions and each MFI is allocated USD 1.5M to disbursed and recover during a period of three years which at end of the three years, the US$3Million will be returned in whole to the Islamic Development Bank.
The two Microfinance Institutions were singled sourced based on their experience in Islamic finance, availability of a Management Information System (MIS) and a wide outreach in the project targeted areas.
He concluded by urging the two institutions to meet the targeted number of beneficiaries which is 10,000 small ruminant value chain farmers particularly women and youths.
On behalf of the contractors Mr. Baboucar Njie Managing Director of GTU-ICCU expressed delight and well thanked the Ministry for the trust bestowed on them, while promised that they will not disappoint the country.
Also, he assured the Ministry of Agriculture their full collaboration and cooperation as per the contract to ensure successful implementation of the loan.
