Heifer Boosts Tractor Financing with Additional $3.5m
James Emejo
International development organisation, Heifer International yesterday announced an additional $3.5 million in funding for its tractor financing initiative in Africa.
The funding boost came barely two weeks after it committed $1 million to the launch of Hello Tractor’s innovative Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) tractor financing for agri-entrepreneurs in Nigeria.
The additional financing brings Heifer’s investment in catalytic funding for tractor financing in Africa to $4.5 million, a development that is expected to speed up the pace of agricultural development on the continent.
Announcing the additional financing during a parley with journalists in Abuja, President/Chief Executive, Heifer International, Mr. Pierre Ferrari, said, “Increased mechanization – and tractors in particular – are vital as smallholder farmers scale up their production and build profitable and sustainable farming businesses.
“We are particularly impressed by Hello Tractor’s Pay-As-You-Go tractor financing model – an innovation that emerged from the AYuTe Africa Challenge, an agritech competition for young entrepreneurs run by Heifer International.”
Earlier at a stakeholder forum in his honour, Ferrari said he was impressed at the enthusiasm shown by smallholder farmers, booking agents, tractor operators and tractor owners to transform the agricultural landscape in Nigeria and other African countries.
The new capital injection will finance an additional 75 tractors across Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda and will provide affordable access to tractor services to 872,250 smallholder farmers at an affordable rate, boosting farm productivity, employment, food security and farmer livelihoods over the next ten years.
The investment will create 6,979 new jobs as booking agents, tractor operators, technicians and tractor owners over 10 years.
According to Ferrari, “Africa has the lowest number of tractors per farmer globally and as a result, yields per hectare are low. Smallholder farmers do not have access to tractors and that’s something we aim to change. We encourage our partners and the donor community to join Heifer International on this journey.”
