AfricaPress-Tanzania: NBC has committed to supporting coffee farmers and traders to ensure the cash crop contributes significantly to the country’s economic growth, as the first Kahawa Festival in the country kicks off in Moshi, Kilimanjaro Region.
The festival, among other things, intends to recognise the contribution of different players in the value chain from farmers to roasters, baristas and coffee shop owners.
The bank is part of the sponsors of a three-day festival organised by the Tanzania Coffee Board (TCB) to commemorate International Coffee Day (ICD) marked every globally on October 1.
Speaking during the launch, Moshi Branch Manager Lazaro Mollel said the bank has participated in the exhibition to ensure they reached out to farmers to enable them to access affordable loans and financial support that would enable them to improve their activities.
“We are so delighted to be part of this exhibition. We are committed to supporting coffee farmers to ensure their crops add more value and boost economic growth. We do this by giving affordable loans and advice on best business practices through our business clinic programme,” said Mr Mollel.
Coffee is one of Tanzania’s primary agricultural export crop representing about 5 per cent of the total exports and 24 per cent of traditional cash crops while more than 90 per cent of Tanzanian coffee originates from smallholder farmers.
NBC Relationship Manager Neema Soko said to ensure farmers had reliable access to banking services. The bank has deployed NBC Shambani and NBC Kiganjani services to help farmers store and access their money anytime and anywhere.
“NBC Shambani targets all stakeholders, including the distributers of agricultural products, farmers as well as those supplying agricultural inputs and it allows farmers who work in groups like agricultural marketing societies (Amcos) to open a group account as well as an individual account free of charge,” she said.
Apart from banking services like opening new accounts, the bank provides a capacity building programme through ‘NBC Business Clinic’ on business and finance issues to help farmers and traders effectively grow their business through proper management of loans and finance as well as business operations.
