Dutch Queen lauds financial access for Tanzania farmers

Arusha. Queen Maxima of the Netherlands has lauded financial access projects to smallholder farmers saying it was the right approach to promote financial inclusion.

She was speaking during a visit in Hai and Siha districts in Kilimanjaro region where she said her country would support the initiative.

“This is the right approach to promote financial inclusion,” she said in her brief remarks at Uduru-Makoa village in Hai district.

Queen Maxima visited the projects in her capacity as the UN Secretary General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development (UNSGSA).

The villagers said they appreciated the initiative because it had enabled them to easily access finance.

Financial inclusion targets investment in digital public goods like interoperable payments, data privacy and digital IDs with financial experts saying it is critical to reach underserved groups like women,farmers and small businesses.

In the long run, this will support Tanzania’s national financial inclusion framework and the country’s approach to inclusive fintech.

At Uduru-Makoa village, the low cost insurance segment of the project is being executed under Acre Africa, a Kenyan-registered insurance firm with agencies in Tanzania and Rwanda and projects in Uganda and other countries. At the village, farmers can purchase insurance in low cost increments via BIMA PIMA scratch cards which cost Sh1,000 each. The same insurance provides Sh12,000 (about $5) of coverage and receive their claims within 30 days.

through their mobile wallets.

Project managers say farmers are happy with the insurance scheme in particular and that they are planning to expand.

“It is difficult to kickstart the exercise but now, farmers are happy and appreciative,” said Cleopa Mushi, the project mobiliser.

However, he told the Queen and her delegation that farmers need more support in the form of agricultural inputs.

Some project beneficiaries raised their concern on the vagaries of weather like drought which has impacted crop production.

This was the third visit to Tanzania by Queen Maxima in her UN role, following her 2010 and 2013 visit.

After visiting the two projects in Kilimanjaro region, she left for Dar es Salaam late yesterday and she is expected to speak to members of the private sector and other development stakeholders in the city today.