Twiga Foods, which distributes fresh fruits and vegetables to retail vendors, is set to benefit from a KSh 3.2 billion loan from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and tier-one Kenyan banks.
IFC will contribute KSh1.6 billion and top Kenyan banks will provide the rest of the funds through unfunded Risk Sharing Facilities (RSFs). “The RSFs will be scaled up in phases and the first phase will be implemented with KCB Bank Kenya Limited,” says IFC.
The loan will go “to support the development of up to 300 irrigated medium-scale (>15ha) contract farmers,” according to a statement on the IFC website. Twiga currently buys seasonal farm produce from 19,500 smallholder farmers in Kenya.
The company expects the funding to enable the 300 medium-scale farms to provide year-round supply of fruits and vegetables and thereby contribute to better food availability, affordability and quality in the markets Twiga serves.
In addition to the loan facility, IFC will provide technical and organization support services including coaching Twiga agronomists & farm managers, assess the feasibility of the farms, and offer financial literacy programs to the contract farmers.
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