An international development organisation, Heifer International, has announced an additional $3.5 million (N2.1bn) in funding for its tractor financing initiative in Africa to speed up the pace of agricultural development on the continent.
The investment comes two weeks after the launch of Hello Tractor’s innovative Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) Tractor financing for agri-entrepreneurs in Nigeria with $1 million from Heifer International, taking the organisation’s investment in catalytic funding for tractor financing in Africa to $4.5 million.
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Heifer International’s investments in tractor financing support increased mechanisation of smallholder farmers, promoting increased food security and entrepreneurship across Africa. The investment is being deployed through Heifer International’s Tractors 4 Africa project.
President and CEO of Heifer International, Pierre Ferrari, said: “Increased mechanisation – 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.”
He further explained that the organisation is launching a programme called tractors for Africa with the aim of deploying 50,000 tractors across the continent.