Grain farmers in Kayonza District will now find it easy to acquire loans, thanks to a warehouse receipt system started in the area by the East African Exchange (EAX) last week.  Under the system, farmers who will store their produce at the EAX-run warehouse will be eligible to access  bank loans of up to 70 per cent the value of the deposited produce, according to Dr Charl Van der Merwe, the Rwanda for Collateral Management International (CMI) operations manager.

CMI is the collateral manager for EAX.

Merwe was speaking during the inauguration of a new EAX warehouse in Kayonza District on Thursday.

He explained that after a farmer deposits their produce, they are given a receipt which serves as collateral to access a bank loan from Banque Populaire du Rwanda, Ecobank and Bank of Kigali.

"The warehouse receipt system allows farmer co-operatives to access financing to meet their immediate cash needs from our partner banks,” he said. He noted that the banks will give farmers up to 70 per cent the value of the grains deposited in the warehouse at an interest rate ranging from 17-18 per cent.  He encouraged more farmers to use the warehouse receipt system to benefit from better produce prices besides having easy access to funding.

The system is also a big opportunity for farmer co-operatives as it will provide them a ready market for their produce.

Faustin Rugumaho, a representative from Koperative Indatwa Kayonza (KOIKA), a maize farmers group in Kayonza, said the warehouse receipt system will empower farmers and help improve their income and standards of living.

"We were trained on how to handle produce… Previously, we used to lose about a third of the produce due to bad post-harvest handling methods,” Rugumaho said.  However, we now know that we have to dry maize to the extent that water can remain at 13 or 14 per cent to ensure standards, he added. "I am sure we will be able to always have the best grade that fetches a high price so we can earn more from our efforts,” Rugumaho said.

Eric Kanyarwanda, a farmer in Nyamugari cell, Mwiri sector, said the system will save them from unscrupulous grain dealers. He noted that in the harvest period, dealers are buying a kilogramme of maize at Rwf100. "But with the coming of this system, farmers will no longer accept low prices offered by middlemen,” Kanyarwanda said.

EAX will launch other warehouses in Nyanza, Bugesera, Musanze district, and the Kigali free trade zone in Gasabo District.