AGRIC.CREDIT(BTM)

closed

The First Agricultural Credit Project for Madagascar will support the Government's policy to extend credit for smallholder agricultural development, with BTM (Bankin'ny Tantsaha Mpamokatra - National Bank for Rural Development) as the principal intermediary. It will also strengthen BTM's managerial and financial capability. Main project components: (a) loans to smallholders for export crops, such as coffee, cocoa, pepper, cloves, and vanilla plantations; for sugar cane plantations; and for food-crops (rice, maize, and groundnuts); (b) loans on an experimental basis to farmers and cooperatives for selected agricultural activities, e.g., vineyard establishment, steer stall-fattening, and small-scale pig fattening; (c) training for BTM staff in financial, managerial, and computer disciplines; (d) creation and operation of about seven itinerant banks (consisting of vehicles equipped for the purpose) to extend BTM's activities in rural areas; and (e) feasibility study (3 man-months) for the establishment of a Data Base Management system for BTM. The project will help to increase production of crops, and will allow an increase in net foreign exchange earnings through increased exports (coffee, cloves, vanilla, pepper, cocoa, and sugar) or reduced imports (rice). It will also strengthen BTM as an agricultural development Bank.