“There is no information,” as Anna Temchishin explains cool attitude of farmers to financial support programs, her family owns a farm in Lviv region. “I get all the knowledge from trainings for farmers, but they are held very rarely.”
Having collected a lot of such reviews at meetings with farmers, the USAID project “Agricultural and Rural Development Support” decided to additionally involve 9 financial literacy consultants in the regions. Since December 7, 2019, they have been working in the departments of the PA "National center of agrifinance development".
The USAID “Agricultural and Rural Development Support” project consultants inform farmers about available loans, leasing programs and government support. Teach farmers to create a business plan and attract financing on the online platform AgriAnalytika: Agrarian`s Cabinet.
Through the e-Cabinet, agricultural producers submit applications for state support, bank loans and investments. The status of the submitted application is easy to verify. Moreover, it can be sent to several financial institutions at once. And if they all accept the application, farmer is able to choose among the financial offers the most optimal one. On the basis of this platform, experts from the USAID project and the Agrofinance Center have already helped 260 farms get or successfully apply for government support or a bank loan.
It is expected that each consultant will help at least 60 farmers to apply for financing for small and medium-sized agricultural producers in a month of work.
