Kyiv, Ukraine, February 8, 2018
—The World Bank Group, in partnership with the Swiss and Ukrainian governments, is rolling out a new financial instrument – crop receipts – across Ukraine to expand access to finance for small farmers, boosting agricultural productivity and supporting economic growth.
Crop receipts are a pre-harvest financial instrument, successfully used in a number of countries, which allows farmers to use future harvests as collateral, enabling them to purchase high-quality seeds and other essentials. They are expected to facilitate up to $520 million for Ukraine’s agricultural sector over the next two years. The nationwide roll-out of crop receipts follows a pilot advisory project in eight Ukrainian regions.
“Crop receipts are a highly innovative financial instrument,” said Holger Tausch, Director of the Swiss Cooperation Office in Ukraine. “Last year, we expanded the pilot project into eight regions, and this year we hope to expand it to the entire country.”
The project is being implemented by IFC,
a member of
the World Bank Group and the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector in developing countries, with financial support from Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).
“Ukraine has the potential to become a global agribusiness leader,” said Jason Pellmar, IFC’s regional head for Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova. “Our aim is to encourage more private investment to unlock that potential, expanding access to finance for smaller farmers, and fostering innovation in the farming sector.”
As part of the crop receipts advisory program, IFC has also worked with the Ukrainian government to develop the necessary legislation and create a registry to track crop receipts easily and transparently. Over two hundred crop receipts valued at over $53 million have been issued since the pilot project began in 2016.
IFC will continue to work to attract new creditors, introduce crop receipts in organic and non-export-oriented agricultural sectors, and support legislation to make crop receipts a tradeable security.
About SECO
SECO is Switzerland’s competence center for all core issues relating to economic policy. SECO’s economic development cooperation strives to achieve inclusive sustainable growth and poverty reduction. Its activities aim to create more and better jobs, to enhance trade and competitiveness, to support effective institutions and services and to foster climate resilient economies. For more information, visit
www.seco-cooperation.ch
.
About the World Bank Group
The World Bank Group is one of the world's largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries. It comprises five closely associated institutions: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA), which together form the World Bank; the International Finance Corporation (IFC); the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA); and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). Each institution plays a distinct role in the mission to fight poverty and improve living standards for people in the developing world. For more information, please visit
www.worldbank.org
,
www.miga.org
, and
www.ifc.org
.
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