KIGALI, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Agriculture experts have urged African governments to assist farmers with subsidised agricultural inputs and soft loans to enable them increase crop productivity.
They made the call on Tuesday during the second day of the international conference on best practices in rural and agricultural finance in the Rwanda, Capital Kigali.
Rwanda hosts the forum on August 1-3, dubbed "fast-tracking replicability of functional models in rural and agricultural finance."
At the meeting, agriculture scientists argued that African economies had the potential to transform the lives of citizens through better and sustainable agriculture practices.
"African policy makers and leaders should engage financial institutions to provide soft credit facilities to farmers to invest in the agri-business ventures. Subsidised farm inputs will also help small scale farmers integrate their crop fields and lower production costs," said Amouda celine Saizonou, agriculture expert with Financial Agriculture and Agro-industry.
Saizonou added that governments should send out agricultural extensionists to guide local farmers on how to easily access soft loans and engage in better agricultural practices.
The three-day high level meeting is deliberating ways to increase agriculture financing in developing countries.
It has brought together more than 250 international, regional and local experts and stakeholders in rural and agricultural finance.
According to Amadou Cisse, executive director of the African institute for remittances, African governments should ensure that farmers have access to credit facilities to enrich their agriculture programmes.
"Agricultural productivity improvement is the foundation for economic prosperity and social development. If farmers are supported to increase crop productivity, hunger and poverty on the continent will be significantly addressed," He said.
Cisse emphasised the importance of recognizing the role of agriculture in stimulating economic growth and reducing rural poverty in Africa.
Muhammad Zubair Mughal, chief executive of AlHuda Centre of Islamic Banking and Economics noted that loans being arranged by the government for farmers do not always get to the real farmers.
"Corrupt leaders in government institutions channel agro inputs meant for small scale farmers, for their agri-business ventures. These agro-inputs will end up being sold to farmers at a higher price," he added.
He urged Africa financial institutions to make funds available to farmers to use agriculture to drive the continent's economies.
According to the World Bank, agriculture contributes 32 percent to Africa's GDP and provides employment to 65 percent of the labour force on the continent.
