Supporting Smallholder Farmers and Value Addition for the Fruit and Vegetable Sector

A Financial Support Agreement has been signed among Rabobank Foundation, AB Farms and HortiFresh to boost production activities of AB Farms  under the ‘’Access to Finance’’ component of the HortiFresh programme which is supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Accra. The financial agreement aims to improve the access-to-finance for smallholder farmers and value addition to the company’s production and processing activities to make the fruit and vegetable sector sustainable.

The signing of the Agreement took place at the La Palm Royal Beach Hotel on March 14, 2019 during the 2^nd HortiFresh Business Platform Meeting. The objective of the HortiFresh programme is to establish a sustainable and internationally competitive fruit and vegetable sector that contributes to inclusive economic growth, food and nutrition security. As part of activities of HortiFresh, improving access-to-finance for smallholder farmers and export companies is crucial in achieving this objective, as investments are required to improve productivity and marketing.

This Agreement is the 3rd of HortiFresh financial product, which entails a loan to exporting companies to pre-finance improved seeds to 60 smallholder farmers who supply to AB Farms, procurement of packaging boxes, crates, tractor, car as well as establishing traps on the nucleus farm of AB Farms.

This will help AB Farms to produce quality product, boost export volumes and increase revenue whiles creating a viable and reliable employment to its workers.

Rabobank Foundation provided the financial capacity for this agreement while HortiFresh will provide technical assistance to AB Farms to make the project successful.