IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and the government of Senegal, have developed a program that will help provide access to credit for the agricultural sector and ease the commercialization of agricultural products.

Saran Kebet-Koulibaly, IFC Director for West and Central Africa, said: “Agribusiness is a key sector for development in Africa, with low barriers to entry that attracts a diverse array of actors participating across the value chain.”

“This SRE project empowers Senegalese farmers to engage meaningfully in the banking system, using their unsold produce as collateral.”

The program will support warehouse receipt financing, which provides loans secured by goods stored in a warehouse.

The warehouse manager issues to farmers, processors, or traders a receipt for the merchandise, which is used to guarantee loans from a banking institution.

Over a period of three years, the project will set up the legal and regulatory framework to introduce and scale-up warehouse financing.

It will train and raise awareness among market players along the agricultural value chain and the financial sector to put the system into operation, while developing a viable agricultural warehousing sector.

The project will be piloted in Senegal’s rice sector, which has a socio-economic importance for the country, and enjoys production conditions that guarantee a constant supply.

The sector has also been fortified by numerous government structural interventions, working with development partners. The Government of Japan made a substantial financial contribution to the project.