The Gambia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) recently awarded certificates to participations of various participatory credit officials derived from different financial institutions following a three-day training program.
The program targeted an approach to orient Financial Service Providers (FSPs) on opportunities and debunk perceived risk perception bestowed on the agricultural sector with special focus on the Public Private Producer Partnership (4P arrangement) – agriculture in The Gambia: A summary from 1965 to 2022, dismantle the risk perception of FSPs in the agricultural sector, opportunities for FSPs in the agricultural sector, and understanding smallholder farmers and FBOs.
The ceremony was held at GCCI main office in Kerr Serign and funded by the ROOTS project.
Institutions that participated in the training included GTBank, Trust Bank, AGIB Bank, Access Bank, Reliance and SuperSonicz.
The objectives of the training included to eliminate/reduce the risk perception that FSPs have on the agricultural value chain, encourage FSPs to understand the potential of smallholder farmers in rice, vegetable and horticulture value chain and to explain the 4P arrangement to the FSPs.
According to the concept note of the training program, GCCI established that FSPs hold a misconception of the agricultural sector due to the numerous uncertainties surrounding the sector, rain fed agriculture and the risk pest, low yields, and inadequate access to markets.
It added that there have been some advancements in the agricultural sector over the past decade which has lowered the risk elements in the sector, that there has been an upsurge in the transformation of farmers to become entrepreneurs.
It also said that there has equally been deployment of solar powered drip irrigation technology, investment in market infrastructure and incentives to encourage private sector participation.
It further stated that the agricultural value chains include diverse private sector operators and government institutions, with the vast majority of which are in the private sector and play a crucial role. They supply inputs to smallholder farmers, producers, value addition and finance.
Furthermore, the private businesses provide the financial services, technology, know-how, and information needed to meet the standards required by specific value chains actors with 4Ps goals to enhance the sustainability of viable agricultural businesses and smallholder farmers. This is a mechanism for promoting access to markets for project beneficiaries and actors of rice and vegetable value chains.
However, prominent among the issues that saddles the agricultural sector in The Gambia is hindered access to loanable funds from financial service providers. These include high premium for insurance cover for the agricultural sector.
It further stated that the barrier to intervention of FSPs to commit financing into the agricultural sector is largely sustained by the prevailing high perception banks and insurance companies have on the agricultural value chain.
It concluded that agricultural financing in The Gambia, which is predominantly hinged on donor funding and partly on Government intervention, the absence of FSPs has left the agricultural sector to stagnate at a substantial level without much commercialisation.