PRIME Minister Kassim Majaliwa has called on financial institutions to continue designing products and services aimed at solving challenges facing farmers to boost the sector’s contribution to the economy.
The Prime Minister made the call and commendations over the weekend when he visited the NBC booth at the Nanenane Agriculture Exhibition held at the John Mwakangale grounds in Mbeya.
According to him, the provision of low-interest loans for farming equipment will help stimulate agricultural revolution by increasing production and incomes for farmers.
“The government has always been urging and requesting various financial institutions to increase their efforts in innovating their services in order to come up with solutions for various economic groups according to their specific needs.
This is why I congratulate NBC, where through the NBC Shambani product, they are able to support farmers get loans for important agricultural equipment…well done NBC,” he praised.
NBC Bank Head of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), product and Agriculture, Raymond Urassa, said that through a partnership with Agricom, an agricultural input company, the bank has already provided loans for agricultural equipment worth 2.3bn/- to various farmers in the country.
“Our efforts are just a continuation of many of our efforts that we focus on in the agricultural sector to support government’s efforts in promoting agriculture in the country,” said Urassa.
Furthermore, to prove their commitment, the bank handed over a loan comprising a tractor and a plow worth 62.1 million to a rice farmer Evarist Msasi from Mbarali District in Mbeya during a brief handover ceremony at the event grounds.
Speaking during the ceremony, Urassa stated that since the partnership with Agricom, NBC has empowered farmers with loans for 20 tractors, 15 combine harvesters, and 10 power tillers.
“NBC will continue to support the government’s commitment to achieving the growth of the agricultural sector from 5 per cent to 10 per cent by 2030,” Mr Urassa said, inviting farmers to take advantage of the opportunity to receive agricultural equipment loans and open their NBC Shambani accounts.
Speaking at the event, the Managing Director of the Tanzania Sisal Board (TSB), Saddy Kambona, who was the guest of honour, congratulated NBC and Agricom for supporting the government’s efforts to uplift the agriculture sector in the country.
He stated that the government’s goal is to ensure that farmers move away from traditional agriculture, which is not profitable for individual income and used the opportunity to urge farmers to invest more in better farming tools.
On his part, the Executive Director of Agricom, Alex Duffar, expressed his gratitude to NBC for being a good partner, noting that, in a short period of time, the company has managed to increase its sales by ten times compared to last year thanks to the bank’s partnership.