Brighton Gumbo Business Reporter
FARMERS have called on banks to reduce interest rates following reports that financial institutions have mobilised capital for lending to local farmers during the 2015/2016 summer cropping season. According to a news report on ZBCtv on Tuesday evening, the Bankers Association of Zimbabwe assured the farmers that financial banks had mobilised capital for lending during the 2015/2016 summer cropping season.

Farmers have over the years been failing to access loans due to stringent lending conditions. Zimbabwe Farmers Union (ZFU) executive director Paul Zakariya said in an interview yesterday that there was a need for banks to relax lending conditions to enable farmers to access loans.

“The interest rates are too high making money very expensive and as a result some farmers are reluctant to borrow for fear of defaulting,” he said. Zakariya said it was therefore important for banks to reduce interest rates to enable as many farmers as possible to access loans. “In the event farmers fail to access loans, this will definitely reduce their capacity to produce because inputs are expensive,” he said.

Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union (ZCFU) president Wonder Chabikwa said agriculture depends on borrowing hence the need to make loans affordable. He said fertiliser manufacturers had promised to reduce prices by 20 percent which was a welcome development if farmers were able to access loans at affordable interest rates.