IFC, Absa to fund African farmers with $50m trade facility

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank, is partnering with South Africa’s Absa Group are partnering to provide a $50 million trade finance facility to Valency International, aimed at supporting 150,000 smallholder farmers in West and East Africa.

This funding will allow Valency to buy key crops like cashew nuts and sesame seeds from local farmers in Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Ghana, and Tanzania.

Absa and IFC will each commit $25 million to the facility, which will enable Valency, through its procurement activities, to provide much-needed working capital financing to co-operatives and local buying agents to support sourcing from smallholder farmers, which in turn provides the farmers better access to the market. The latest investment is part of the Global Warehouse Finance Programme envelope of IFC’s $1 billion Africa Trade and Supply Chain Recovery Initiative, which is supported by the IDA Private Sector Window.

This partnership will “help ensure that farmers across the region are better integrated into the marketplace and have the opportunity to grow and thrive.” said Sérgio Pimenta, IFC’s Vice President for Africa.

Attribution: IFC

Subediting: Y.Yasser