Medf disbursed K11bn loans under Filp
Malawi Enterprise Development Fund (Medf), formerly Malawi Rural Development Fund (Mardef), says during the 2013-2014 farming season, it disbursed farm input loans through Farm Input Loan Programme (Filp) amounting to K11 billion.
Medf chief executive officer Joseph Mononga said this in Blantyre in an interview with Malawi News Agency (Mana) on Friday.
He said Medf distributed 32 500 metric tonnes of fertiliser which, he said, has changed lives of farmers nationwide.
“From K11 billion loans disbursed, we have, so far, managed to recover K3.7 billion. To us, we feel there is good rate of payment though there are some difficulties in course of recovering.
“Some challenges that we have faced during this season is that of usual trouble spots like Kasungu, Lilongwe, especially at Msundwe area and some other places in Machinga where bogus groups and individuals accessed the fertiliser,” said Mononga.
He said all loans have interest rate of seven percent which, he said, is above Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) rate currently at 25 percent.
Some of the loans offered by Medf include micro group loans, individual small medium enterprises (SMEs) loans, youth empowerment loans, youth equipment, loan, agriculture loans, motorcycle loans and civil servants economic empowerment loans.
Medf was registered in February 2014 as a company limited by guarantee and it was changed from Mardef due to its rigid operational guidelines—Mana
