Mozambique Cereals Institute (ICM) and Gapi have signed on Monday 10 December 2018 in Maputo, an agreement to create the Special Line of Credit to support commercialization in agriculture. This event was attended by the Minister of Industry and Commerce of Mozambique (MIC), Ragendra de Sousa, members of the Advisory Council of the MIC and the Boards of Directors of ICM and Gapi.
This event was attended by the Minister of Industry and Commerce of Mozambique (MIC), Ragendra de Sousa, members of the Advisory Council of the MIC and the Boards of Directors of ICM and Gapi.
It is a credit line that will prioritize the funding of agricultural commercialization campaigns, as well as some agro-processing activities, with priority for regions already identified as strategic by ICM. After the consolidation of this initial phase, it is envisaged the possibility of promoting investments with a view to expanding and modernizing the storage capacity of traded goods; and contribute to a greater and better use of storage and processing infrastructures.
Speaking as a Minister overseeing the ICM, Ragendra de Sousa highlighted the singularity of this fund, emphasizing that “the great advantage is that we have been seeking consolidated practices and experience in granting financing to small and medium-sized enterprises, particularly in rural areas of Gapi’s side and we add to that a great desire and effort of the ICM to make a difference in commercialization, introducing a deep economic sense. ” – he said.
Sousa also called attention to the implementation models, which should effectively promote the sector, relegating the State to the role of regulator, hence reiterating that “ICM is the State’s arm and Gapi is a national development finance institution with many years of experience and national implementation. One more reason to leave this challenge of supporting and creating more producers, more entrepreneurs, smaller and medium industries, on the way to our industrialization, delivered into your hands. ”
Mahomed Valá, General Manager of ICM highlighted the fact that this line represents the availability, funding, “intermediate producers will have the possibility to induce a very important movement of agricultural marketing, by creating better conditions for storage. I believe it is a start with a lot of rationality, a lot of sustainability and, above all, a lot of responsibility “. Valá added that “in the coming days we want to call the Steering Committee to start operating this line, so that by the end of the first quarter of 2019 we already have the first beneficiaries of this initiative.”
António Souto, Gapi’s CEO acknowledged that the confidence placed in its institution, partly as a result of the work it has already been doing to support producer organizations and rural commercialization as one of the elements of linking markets to the various value chains, and a factor for the strengthening of rural traders in cross-border trade and food and nutrition security.
“We have been a strategic partner of the State, in the development challenges that Mozambique faces. Therefore, the rural traders, preferably in the places where the production is, will begin to see practical cases of this instrument that, on your guidance, has been created and that it is up to us as a development financial institution to implement it efficiently and with good governance “. Referred
Souto also highlighted the great importance of institutional cooperation in strengthening a more inclusive financial system: “only by joining synergies and capitalizing on the experience of national institutions that we have been doing, we can achieve the much-desired development that guides our agendas.”