Farmers get help with loans through new Bill, Ashneel Sudhakar explains

Farmers will soon be able to use their livestock and crops as collateral with financial institutions to obtain loans.

This will be made possible with the passing of the Personal Property Securities Bill of 2017.

A press conference was held yesterday by the Justice, Law and Human Rights Committee at Parliament where details of the Bill were released to media.

The bill also includes moveable assets like vehicles, industrial equipment and machinery, commodities, agricultural products, mineral, timber, and fisheries. This is being introduced with the hopes of making it easier for small and micro farmers to obtain loans to invest in their businesses. Chairman of the Committee Ashneel Sudhakar said: “This will help the small and micro enterprises and medium enterprises who are finding it difficult in obtaining loans.

“It allows farmers to have benefit from their crops and produce even before they sell it,” Mr Sudhakar said.

There are also provisions to mortgage crops. “The warehouse system allows you to store your harvested crops where then you will be issued a certificate and that certificate can be taken to the financier and obtain mortgage loan.

“When you sell your product, that money goes back to the financier.”

Public consultations on the Bill starts tomorrow. The first will be held at Sugar Cane Growers Council Hall in Lautoka.

Acting Governor of the Reserve Bank of Fiji Ariff Ali while making submissions on the Bill said: “The basic purpose of the Personal Property Securities Bill is to increase economic activity. It does so by making it easier and less expensive to obtain credit.

Increase in access to credit is directly correlated to higher economic activity which in turn leads to job creation, reduction in poverty and higher tax collection which is then channelled back to all Fijians through improved or better services.”