Jamaica Wants To Expand Agriculture, But Agribusinesses Are Finding It Impossible to Access Capital
Friday, August 2, 2019
By Daphne Ewing-Chow
“Agricultural industry actors in Jamaica face issues with accessing credit facilities from traditional financial institutions at affordable rates due to a lack of collateral, lack of structured financial data and the cost due to the intensive risk assessment requirements,” says Jermaine Henry, CEO of FlowFacto, a cloud-based financing platform for agriculture exporters.
Given heavy bureaucracy, strict requirements for collateral, the unpredictability of yields, price volatility, extended wait times for collection of receivables and the cash-intensive nature of the sector, financial institutions often find it difficult to assess the performance of agribusinesses, causing many to fall through the financial cracks. “The traditional lending sector is still using methods of risk assessment that are decades old,” explains Zachary Harding, CEO of Hyperion Equity.
Photo courtesy of Michael L. Dorn.
Source: Forbes (link opens in a new window)
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