Kosovo Credit Guarantee Fund (KCGF) in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development (MAFRD) and the Kosovo Banking Association (KBA), launched the AgroSoft platform, a project supported by the German Development Bank (KfW).
The AgroSoft virtual platform will help Financial Institutions for accurate analysis during agricultural financing. This user friendly, dynamic and accessible platform from various electronic devices (desktop, laptop, tablet or smartphone), as well as updated by MAFRD with the latest data, will enable Financial Institutions and other parties to reduce the information asymmetry gap between the farmer, the financial institution and the market, thus directly affecting farmers in easier access to finance, generating new jobs, increasing fresh local production and reducing imported food products.
During this event, the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development, Mr. Besian Mustafa, among others, emphasized “This very easy to use platform, is undoubtedly a step forward, towards the expedition of procedures for lending to agribusinesses.”.
Furthermore, the Senior Coordinator of the Finance and Energy Sector in KfW, in Pristina, Mrs. Bahrije Dibra emphasized “The German government through KfW has supported KCGF since its establishment by contributing financially to the Fund’s capital, for almost 14 million euros until now. Special attention was paid to the agricultural sector through the opening of the Agro Window in order to promote the development of the sector and increase the employment in agriculture. Furthermore, in addition to capital, KCGF has also been supported technically in building the Fund’s capacity and within this pillar KfW has assisted the development of the AgroSoft platform which is considered as a tool that will facilitate communication between banks, and agribusinesses turning their activity into figures understandable to banks. This will enable the achievement of the main goal of Agro Window, which is to increase lending to agriculture”.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Kosovo Banking Association, Mr. Petrit Balija, emphasized that “the banking sector supports the AgroSoft platform, which will serve credit agro-analysts to better reflect information regarding yields and other relevant statistics of the agricultural sector . He also said that the development of the AgroSoft platform by the Kosovo Credit Guarantee Fund with the support of the German government through KfW is a special contribution to increasing funding for agribusinesses. Commercial banks in Kosovo continue to support growing farmers in their activities by constantly seeking new opportunities to increase their access to finance”.
Further, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of KCGF Mr. Gjonbalaj stressed “To increase support for enterprises and farmers in the agricultural sector, KCGF with the help of the German Development Bank (KfW) has created the Agro Window and is now launching AgroSoft , the dynamic platform to assist financial institutions in lending step by step by providing real agricultural information on pricing, costs, returns and risk management. The window helps facilitate financing conditions for farmers, while AgroSoft will reduce lending risk and information asymmetry between the farmer, the financial institution, and the market. Together, they will increase lending to the sector, which will result in increased employment, increased domestic production, and replacement of food imports”.
This event marks another moment for Kosovo Credit Guarantee Fund, on the way to achieving institutional objectives, first of all supporting lending in the agribusiness sector, as one of the most important sectors for creating added value in the economy, for replacing imports and increasing the export capacity of local agribusinesses.
To date, through KCGF’s Agro Window, 370 enterprises and farmers have been financed with a total loan amount of 14.5 million euros. Whereas, the total amount of approved loans has reached 207.3 million euros distributed in over 5,450 loans.
