THE National Bank of Commerce (NBC) has said the Nanenane Agricultural Exhibition is an opportunity to publicize the bank's services related to the entire agricultural sector as well as receive feedback from the farmers.
This was said by the NBC Bank Head of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), product and Agriculture Department, Raymond Urassa at John Mwakangale Stadium in the Mbeya Region where the farmers' exhibition takes place.
He said the bank's participation in the agriculture fair is a continuation of their efforts to see into it that they continue being closer to the stakeholders of the important sector.
"The bank's participation in the agricultural sector is through its major programme that is aimed at nurturing the industry in the country known as 'NBC Shambani' that involves the entire chain of the agricultural sector starting from the grassroots farmers through the processors of the distributors," he said.
He added: "Furthermore, we also aim to ensure that we cooperate well with the government in fulfilling the very basic ambition of achieving the maximum growth of the agricultural sector in the country as well as improving the lives of the farmers in the country."
Talking about some of services provided by the bank specifically for farmers, he mentioned the Agricultural Insurance product offered by the bank in collaboration with Jubilee Insurance Company, aimed at protecting farmers, fishermen, and livestock keepers in the country against losses, when they experience various disasters that may affect their production.
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"We are very close with the agricultural sector and that's why further we always appreciate the contribution of farmers to the country's economy. Based on the same fact we considered it good to come up with the agricultural insurance product for farmers and that in proving the effectiveness of the product, it is only recently we compensated the tobacco farmers in the Tabora region whose crops were affected by the bad weather," he noted.
Equally, the bank's SME head said that the bank also empowers farmers by providing them with agricultural inputs for some crops including cotton, coffee, and tobacco, the aim being to increase productivity in the sector.
"Through NBC Shambani programme, we have been cooperating with various stakeholders in providing various loans to farmers, including tractors loans and many other agricultural machines," he said.
