KCB Bank has intensified investments to enhance growth in the agriculture sector targeting two million farmers, 100,000 youth and women.
KCB Group has committed Sh35 billion (US$ 350 million) towards lending and capacity building in the agricultural sector over the next five years.
The funding is expected to impact the lives of more than two million farmers including 100,000 youth and women who will now have access to affordable credit facilities.
Announcing the commitment, KCB Group CEO and MD KCB Bank Kenya, Joshua Oigara said that the increased funding will constitute five percent of the bank’s loan book, slightly above the current 3.85 percent funding to the sector. Currently, the bank lends almost Sh14 billion to the agricultural sector.
“These are part of our efforts to leave a solid footprint on the agricultural sector since we appreciate the often stated fact that agriculture remains the backbone of the economies we operate in,” said Mr Oigara.
Oigara added that the bank has identified financial inclusion as a key driver of African economies and hence the strategic focus on SMEs, women and the youth.
“We have seen the impact that even a small intervention can make for those who did not have access to funding in the past. The multiplier effect in the agricultural sector is enormous. We have therefore made a conscious decision to enhance our support for the sector that has the most significant and immediate impact,” says Mr Oigara.
While addressing delegates including several Heads of State at the recent African Green Revolution Forum held in Nairobi, Mr Oigara stressed the importance of the agricultural sector to the continent.
“It is unfortunate that less than one billion dollars of the banks’ lending books goes to the agricultural sector in Africa. Our renewed commitment to the sector will therefore enable us promote Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) making it a real force for social change in the sector,” he said.
KCB Group has in the recent past intensified its intervention in the agricultural sector, with a number of initiatives targeting a sector that has traditionally not attracted much attention.
Together with MasterCard Foundation, KCB Group has established a Sh3 billion programme that allows farmers access to credit facilities and market information through their mobile phones in Kenya and Rwanda.
By providing accessible funding coupled with training opportunities for the smallholder farmers and pastoralists, the bank aims to drive further growth and build on the strength of the sector.
“Through key partnerships such as the one we have with MasterCard, we are assured that the agricultural sector grows while providing ongoing support for food security,” says Mr Oigara.
In addition, KCB Bank introduced Mifugo ni Mali (literally meaning, livestock is wealth), an initiative of the KCB Foundation to successfully establish a value chain development programme that has so far reached 30,000 livestock herders, bee-keepers and fishermen across the counties.