LIBERIA AGRICULTURAL CREDIT BANK PROJECT

As a first step, the ACDB will prepare an overall development plan, including the formulation of specific strategies for addressing the credit and savings needs of small farmers. These strategies will also address the need to provide services to farmers outside the cooperative framework; loan size and terms (including interest rate structures); relationships with the Ministry of Agriculture extension and cooperative divisions; capitalization; financial projections; decentralization; and staffing requirements. Credit policies and procedures applicable to cooperatives and small farmers will be instituted and produced in manual form. A staffing requirements and training plan will also be developed. A minimum of 34 ACDB professionals (including agricultural economists, loan analysts, a financial planner, a development banker, accountants, and operations personnel) will receive either long-term or short-term academic, or on-the-job training. Previously developed internal accounting, auditing, and control systems will be tested and redesigned to fit ACDB operations. Strategies to promote rural savings will be developed, and three new branches of ACDB will be opened in areas in which integrated rural development projects are now operating or are proposed. A small socioeconomic survey of bank customers and non-customers will be carried out later in the project. By the end of the project, ACDB will have a loan portfolio of $6 million, with 80% targetted to small farmers and cooperatives. Default rates should approximate 4%. U.S. technical assistance will include an agricultural economist, a rural agricultural specialist, an accounting systems/procedures specialist, a staffing/training specialist, a rural savings specialist, and a rural sociologist. Local consultants will also be provided. The IBRD will also provide technical assistance.