Farmer Finance
The farm is expected to to create over 170 new local jobs
The non-profit agribusiness investor, which is backed by the U.K. development agency DFID, invested $5 million in Katito Farming Enterprises, a new commercial farming operation in the Mbala region of Northern Zambia. AgDevCo’s investment in Katito is its second in Zambia.
The farm is part of an effort to give local smallholder farmers access to regional export markets, and to create over 170 new local jobs. The farm fits with efforts from the Zambian government to “shift the mainstay of the economy from mining to agriculture,” Zambia’s Daily Mail reports.
AgDevCo’s investment calls for improved security of land tenure for communities around the farm. Katito has also secured $7 million from a local investor.
In Mozambique, AgDevCo is backing banana exporter Citrum SA with $1.5 million to rehabilitate a banana plantation. AgDevCo is working with Nika, a group of Mozambican investors, to support Citrum in increasing the banana plantation’s yields and sales. The plantation will employ 140 people locally and is focused on hiring and promoting women.
