How planned Coop Bank will boost agriculture

 



The proposed national cooperative bank will boost agricultural production by accessing farmers and other industry players to credits.
The bank would easily channel the funds to the cashstrapped crop growers to buy the needed inputs through their respective cooperative unions.
This emerged in Moshi yesterday during a forum specifically convened to lay ground on creation of the longawaited financial institution later this year. “Tanzania needs a cooperative bank to serve members of the cooperative unions and societies,” stressed Mr Benson Ndege, the Registrar of the Cooperatives.
He told financial sector experts and representatives of cooperatives from across the country that the formation of the bank tops the agricultural sector priorities.
The Kilimanjaro Cooperative Bank (KCBL), which has benefited from the recent large-scale capitalization of CRDB Bank Plc, will assume responsibility.
Audax Rutabanzibwa, a longtime agricultural lawyer, says Tanzania has a moral obligation to revive cooperative banking.
The former bank, with 15 cooperatives as major shareholders at the time, was one of the banks nationalized by the government in the 1970s.
"There is a problem with the shortage of national co-operative banks," he said in a forum during the five-hour live broadcast on TBC 1. major shareholder.
“In this scenario, there will be no outflow of resources outside the cooperative system. The capital will rotate internally and benefit the farmers,” said
Moshi's field expert Professor John Galeshu.
“There used to be a co-operative bank which was nationalized. This time we will not bend our resolve,” says Moshi University of Cooperative Management (MuCOBS).
It is estimated that 60 percent of Tanzania’s population is in the agribusiness value chain while at least Sh2.3 trillion is circulating in the same season.
A recent shareholders’ meeting of KCBL approved plans to transform the financial institution into a commercial bank once the required capital is raised.
A representative of CRDB Bank Plc at the meeting at MuCOBS said the planned bank will complement, rather than compete, with other financial institutions in strengthening the cooperatives.
He said CRDB Bank Plc, one of the leading lenders in the country, had its roots in the cooperatives since the early independence daysCurrently, the agricultural sector accounts for 43% of all bank-supervised loans. In doing so, he invested in cooperatives.
This includes a capital injection of 7 billion shillings into KCBL, which recorded a loss at the time, and another 3.2 billion shillings into Tandahimba Community Bank (Tacoba) in the Lindi region.
He supported the direct conversion of KCBL Bank into a National Cooperative Bank (NCB Plc for NCB Plc), given KCBL Bank's recent activities.
Mr. Chief Executive Officer and General Manager of Moshi-based KCBL. Godfrey Ngurah said financial institutions are ready for the challenge given their liquidity status.
In the past year, the company generated pre-tax profit of 318 million shillings, made loans of 4.7 billion shillings and deposits increased to 5.5 billion shillings. Since
CRDB Plc invested in a bank bailout, the number of customers has increased by 12,000 from 3,000 three years ago to 15,000.
Mr. Ngurah said a total of 20 billion shillings out of the promised 8 billion shillings would be needed to set up a new bank with state headquarters in Dodoma.
members become the majority shareholder (51%) and 49% of the shares are transferred to individuals and companies.

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