Soft loans

A critical issue is the financial support of organic fanning, especially during the conversion period. Since it was found that the conversion period for most farmers is a time of financial constraint and risks, support during this time is of decisive importance. Financial support could include the introduction of support for investments, i.e. in the form of soft loans. However, in the case of a fairly well developed domestic market and/or the possibility for export, this support is... 

As a result of various government initiatives, a soft loan may be available this is a loan on terms which are less onerous than those that prevail for commercial loans. Soft loans ate usually only available to start-up companies the interest rates may be lower than commercial interest rates and secrrrity is not demanded. 

There is therefore a need for micro-level financial skills to be developed within the industry and within the financial community. However, it is also recognized that governments need to intervene to enable companies to access affordable investment capital. What types of interventions can governments employ to help resolve this critical issue A government can provide soft loans, or it can use direct intervention to reduce... 

Many industry actors and a number of trade associations have called for their governments to set up designated funds for low-cost investment in the pharmaceutical sector. One example is in Ghana, where in 2014 the President announced that Cedis 50 million would be set aside from the Export Development and Agriculture Investment Fund (EDAIF) for soft loans to the pharmaceutical sector (with recent currency depreciation this is now equivalent to less than USD 20 million). The government of Nigeria proposed a Naira 200 billion (roughly USD 100 million) fund to support the sector, but this has yet to materialize. 

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