It was Thursday, March 14, 2024 with the inauguration of an agency specially dedicated to financing rural actors in the realization of agro-pastoral projects.
The financial institution is launching its first branch dedicated exclusively to financing rural players and agro-pastoral project developers in the development of their agricultural projects. The branch, located opposite the Yaoundé Chamber of Agriculture, Fisheries and Animal Industry (CAPEF), was inaugurated at a ceremony presided over by Finance Minister Louis Paul Motaze, accompanied by several other members of the government.
According to the ADG (Administrateur Directeur Général), Reverend Charles Rollin Ombang Ekath, the need to engage in the financing of agricultural value chains arose from a desire to contribute to the growth of the Cameroonian economy through this sector. "Financing agriculture requires certain specificities that are linked to the activity. That's why we recruit engineers and train them to be good advisors for our customers.
We also propose products that are adapted to this sector; products for each target group, i.e. the elite, women and young people, so that every Cameroonian is involved and can produce something. That's why we've decided to get involved", declared the ADG. Although he did not reveal the amount of the initial envelope made available to future customers, the bank nevertheless intends to grant credit for agricultural projects for a minimum amount of 2 million FCFA for projects with a maturity of at least one year.
La Régionale Bank's initiative is fully in line with the Cameroonian government's policy, for which the Prime Minister signed a decree on March 22, 2023, creating, organizing and operating the fund to facilitate the supply of credit for the development of agricultural and livestock value chains, according to the Minister of Finance (Minfi). Louis Paul Motaze took the opportunity to reaffirm the government's willingness to support this private initiative, which "removes the obstacles to the development of agriculture in Cameroon". He added: "The country's economy is essentially based on agriculture. But the main problem is financing this sector, because agriculture is a rather special sector, and traditional banks are reluctant to finance agro-pastoral projects.
When we see an initiative like this, a bank that is breaking new ground by committing itself to this field, we can only support it". With regard to the quality of the bank, the member of the government suggested that the institution should provide serious support to promoters of agro-pastoral projects, to ensure that these projects are carried out properly and that there is a return on investment. This is in line with the import-substitution policy advocated by the government in the SND30.
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Martin Paul Mindjos Momeny, President of CAPEF
« We're very pleased to see that this project, which we've been following for over a year, has come to fruition, and I'd like to point out here that we're partners with Regional Bank, with whom we've signed a partnership agreement to finance the activities of our national members. The advantage we have here is that the regional bank has proposed many products for our members, some of whom are retired workers, as well as products for women, young people and traditional farmers. We told them that our members are all over the country, and that the bank that wanted to work with us should go as far as possible in terms of covering the country, and we agreed to open branches in all ten regions. I'm delighted that this was announced by the Managing Director in his speech. Our joint plan is that, in the days to come after this opening, we'll go out into the field to raise awareness and involve our members in this financing scheme, so we're going in with high hopes, and we'd like to thank the government for facilitating this initiative, in particular the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Agriculture. We are beneficiaries and we expect to benefit significantly from the initiative ».
Clément Noumsi
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