USAID launches loan partnership with South Sudan private banks

November 2, 2012 (JUBA) – An agreement between private financial institutions and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has “unlocked $7 millions for lending” to South Sudanese farmers, the US embassy said in a press release on Friday.

Representatives from Kenya Commercial Bank, Equity and Finance South Sudan sealed the agreement in August with USAID and Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). The press statement did not detail how farmers will access the loans.

“Agricultural development in South Sudan is critical in reducing poverty and food insecurity […] and to diversify the economy,” said Tiffany McGriff, the public affairs officer at the US embassy in Juba.

“The loan facility will leverage the bank’s own resources to complement existing USAID agricultural projects in Eastern, Western and Central Equatoria and Jonglei states,” McGriff added in the statement.

Though South Sudan is seen as a potential agricultural country, the government has invested little resources to support local farmers who practice traditional farming methods. The new country relies on imported food items from neighbouring East African countries making it vulnerable to price changes in outside markets.

The USAID and private partnership to offer loans to farmers could nevertheless have little impact on the food production in the country where there are barely any feeder roads connecting villages where farming is practiced.

Since many farmers are not educated, getting through the loan processing would also be hard.

(ST)