CRDB Bank Foundation, three entities sign deal to empower farmers
What you need to know:
- The CRDB Bank Foundation has formed a partnership with the Tanzania Cooperative Development Commission (TCDC), the Warehouse Receipt Regulatory Board (WRRB), and the Tanzania Mercantile Exchange (TMX), to boost food production and create jobs for women and youths, among others
Dar es Salaam. The CRDB Bank Foundation has signed a partnership deal with three institutions to jointly empower farmers and develop the entire value chain of trading in cereals and other produce.
The CRDB Bank Foundation formed a partnership with the Tanzania Cooperative Development Commission (TCDC), the Warehouse Receipt Regulatory Board (WRRB), and the Tanzania Mercantile Exchange (TMX), to boost food production and create jobs for women and youths, among others.
"As the CRDB Bank Foundation, we take pride in promoting inclusive economic growth... We will work with various players to achieve that goal,” said the CRDB Bank Foundation managing director, Ms Tully Mwambapa.
Through the partnership, the CRDB Bank Foundation will be responsible for delivering financial education and financing to farmers, while TCDC’s role will be to ensure that only authentic cooperative societies benefit from the arrangement.
WRRB will ensure that the products to be availed of through the arrangement are kept safe, while TMX will see to it that farmers find buyers for their products.
"At the district level, we expect to reach out to at least 10 Agricultural Marketing Cooperative Societies who will receive between Sh1 million and Sh30 million or more depending on their needs,” she said.
According to the Chief Executive Officer of TMX, Mr Godfrey Malekano, their role is to ensure that farmers get better prices for their products. Since its establishment in 2018, products such as sesame, lentils, cashew nuts, pigeon pees and other livestock products have been sold through the TMX platforms.
“The TMX platforms work in such a way that a farmer and a buyer must not necessarily meet for business to be done. What a farmer needs to do is send his/her products to a recognised warehouse,” he said, detailing several benefits of trading farmers’ produce through the TMX.
According to the registrar of cooperative societies, Dr Benson Ndiege, the partnership could potentially benefit over 7,000 people scattered across the country.
In his remarks, the WRRB chief executive, Mr Asangye Bangu, said the partnership was part of the ongoing initiatives to empower farmers’ economically.
