BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 27. KfW Development Bank on behalf of German government is helping to increase competitiveness of Tajik agricultural products, Agriculture & Finance Consultants GmbH (AFC) told Trend.
KfW's “Value Chain Agro Finance” Programme provides 8.6 million euros for lending to agriculture value chains in Tajikistan from May 2021.
"The Program aims to create and support selected value chains across Tajikistan to produce competitive agri-food products in a sustainable way and promote the use of good agricultural practice and best available techniques in processing and distribution," the company said.
According to the company, this helps to increase competitiveness of Tajik agri-food products on local and regional markets.
"The financial institutions receive long-term loans to extend affordable credit to Tajik small and medium enterprises, integrated in agricultural value chains. AFC’s experts support them in identifying suitable value chains, designing appropriate loan products, and improving their business models," the AFC said.
AFC also provides business planning and credit application training to the target group, including the establishment of the best agricultural practices.
Since the value chain strategy is still relatively new in Tajikistan, banks are only beginning to finance value chain development.
Agriculture & Finance Consultants GmbH (AFC), founded in 1973, is a private German consulting company which specializes in financial, agricultural, and agribusiness development projects.