Farmers To Gain Opportunities From International Funding

Mon, Jun 22nd 2020, 04:51 PM

A virtual forum for the dissemination of information to the Caribbean titled, ‘Farmers’ Organizations in Africa, Caribbean and Pacific’ (F04ACP) and the ‘ABC Fund’ was held on 17 June 2020 in collaboration with the Organization of Africa, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS).

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO); Harvesting, Innovations, Spreading Opportunities (Procasur), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), AgriCord and the European Union (EU); the Agri-business Capital Fund (ABC) in partnership with the OACPS and the EU, Luxembourg Aid & Development, and Growing Africa’s Agriculture (AGRA) information session raised awareness of initiatives in the Caribbean region for the agriculture sector.

The Bahamas was represented by H.E Maria O’Brien, Ambassador of The Bahamas to the Kingdom of Belgium and Head of Mission to the European Union; Dave Smith, Managing Director, Bahamas Development Bank; Debbie Strachan, Acting General Manager, Bahamas Agricultural and Industrial Cooperation (BAIC), and the Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources.

IFAD provided information on the two initiatives, F04ACP and the ABC Fund, and it is anticipated that the programmes will be available in September 2020.

A federation for farmers organizations at the regional level would accelerate the implementation of the initiatives as they already exist in Africa and the Pacific states.

The F04ACP is a dialogue platform for smallholders farming organizations to provide direct financing for capacity building efforts coordinated through the federation of farmers organizations at the regional level. F04ACP initiative would be accessible through intermediaries such as FAO and Procasur.

The five year initiative from 2019 – 2023, co-funded by the European Commission totals EUR 40 million and IFAD contribution of USD 3,000,000 for Farmers Organizations in Africa, Caribbean and Pacific states would provide financial and technical assistance while supporting investees with the submission of proposals and management of investments.

The ABC Fund is an instrument created in 2019, serving as an impact investment fund, managed by Bamboo Capital to eradicate poverty in developing countries.

The fund targets small farmers, and small and medium rural agribusinesses, permitting access to a diversity of instruments within the fund as well as supporting local financial institutions to assist farmers.

The fund will provide between EUR 200k to EUR 800k to small and medium farmers and up to EUR 4 million to financial intermediaries.

It is proposed that Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), in the Bahamas, can partner with the OACPS, FAO, IFAD in order for farmers to access these initiatives.

The initiatives will provide opportunities to improve the means of support for Bahamian farmers by accessing loan and equity investments, gain technical assistance in climate-smart projects, better prepare for natural disasters, and enhance agribusiness value chains.

All initiatives have the goal to create and revive small and medium-size agriculture enterprises amid COVID-19.

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