The Facility for Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Food Security (FDOV), a facility of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has granted an undisclosed amount of funds to Swiss commodity trading company Ecom Agroindustrial to fund a pilot-lending program for small-scale farmers in Colombia to be carried out in mid-2014. Ecom has contracted AZMJ, a US-based for-profit consulting agency to develop the lending program and work with local financial institutions to reach approximately 2,000 coffee farmers – who tend 10 hectares or less – with an average loan of USD 1,500 per farmer per year. Additionally, Ecom has contracted Netherlands-based Utz Certified to provide sustainable farming certifications to approximately 500 of the farmers in the program. Information on the terms of the loans is not available at this time.
FDOV was created in 2012 to boost public-private partnerships in the fields of food security and private-sector development in emerging markets. For 2014, FDOV has an available budget of EUR 40 million (USD 55 million). During 2012, Utz certified approximately 116,000 farmers in Africa, Asia and South America. Financial information for AZMJ is not available at this time.
By Meraj Husain, Research Associate
About AZMJ
AZMJ is a for-profit consulting agency that focuses on facilitating financing for agricultural development. It was founded in 2007 and is based in the US state of Virginia. The acronym of AZMJ is taken from the first letter of the organization’s four founders’ names. Financial information for AZMJ is not available at this time.
Sources and Additional Resources
[1] Information provided to MicroCapital by AZMJ, March 2014
MicroCapital, July 5, 2013, “Cracking the Nut: Sustainable Sourcing for Agricultural Supply Chains Conference, June 25 – June 26, 2013, Dresden, Germany,” https://www.microcapital.org/microfinance-event-cracking-the-nut-sustainable-sourcing-for-agricultural-supply-chains-conference-june-25-june-26-2013-dresden-germany/
MicroCapital, February 4, 2013, “Property Microinsurance in Colombia, Portfolio Reviews for Microfinance Funders, Microfinance Rating Comparability,” https://www.microcapital.org/microfinance-publication-round-up-property-microinsurance-in-columbia-portfolio-reviews-for-microfinance-funders-microfinance-rating-comparability/
MicroCapital Universe Profile: AZMJ
https://www.microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/tiki-index.php?page=AZMJ
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