Doing our bit to reduce global food crisis--planting time for Kiva entrepreneurs

[Guest]

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[wannado]

There are several Kiva loans for planting food crops right now.  I'm not a farmer myself, but it seems to me that time is of the essence in getting crops in the ground.  I hope these loans fund quickly, so the farmers can get the most out of the growing season.  Most of these loans are for 12 months, which is less attractive to some than shorter loans, but it might be worth investing in these to do our little bit to increase world food product.  I'd hate for several weeks to pass before these loans are funded.

Tajikistan
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=46166&_tpos=8&_tpg=1
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=46170&_tpos=9&_tpg=1
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=45866&_tpos=15&_tpg=1
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=46159&_tpos=16&_tpg=1
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=45861&_tpos=18&_tpg=1
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=45856&_tpos=1&_tpg=2
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=45069&_tpos=11&_tpg=2

Azerbaijan
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=51131&_tpos=7&_tpg=1

Bolivia (a group loan; it appears that most or all are involved in farming)
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=50994&_tpos=9&_tpg=2

Samoa
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=51792&_tpos=11&_tpg=2

You can find new ones as the appear by sorting on Agriculture on Kiva's Lend page.

Marsha

[wannado]

Some more farmers needing help with their crops:

Joshua Kwilabya (Tanzania) needs a loan for fertilizer and packaging materials for the fruits and vegetables he grows
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=51898&_tpos=5&_tpg=3

Elizabeth (Peru) needs to purchase compost, fertilizers and improved seeds for her maize and other crops (6 month loan)
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=52340&_tpos=5&_tpg=4

Zokhra Karimova (Azerbaijan) needs a loan to buy fertiziler and seedlings for her orchard
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=51251&_tpos=17&_tpg=2

Rahim Masimov (Azerbaijan) also needs to buy fertlizer and seedlings for his orchard
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=51288&_tpos=3&_tpg=3

Alieta Uputasi (Samoa) needs a loan to purchase agricultural supplies for growing taro, taamu, and bananas
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=51831&_tpos=11&_tpg=2

Tafale Aukuso (Samoa) also needs to purchase supplies for her taro and banana crops
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=51833&_tpos=12&_tpg=2

more plantation farmers in Samoa
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=51820&_tpos=15&_tpg=2
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=51842&_tpos=13&_tpg=2
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=51824&_tpos=10&_tpg=2
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=51822&_tpos=1&_tpg=3
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=51862&_tpos=13&_tpg=3

Zakir Pirverkyev (Azerbaijan) needs a loan for spare parts for his farm tractor
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=51290&_tpos=4&_tpg=3

[Eli]

Some more farmers needing help with their crops:

Elizabeth (Peru) needs to purchase compost, fertilizers and improved seeds for her maize and other crops (6 month loan)
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=52340&_tpos=5&_tpg=4

I couldn't resist Farmer Elizabeth, only thing missing were her overalls.  I just hope that she isn't fond of guinea pigs.

[Turtle]

A stack of agricultural loans have just come up for people in Cameroon (through GHAPE) - mostly women & a few men, too.  They have good loan descriptions, giving some background about the hardships & successes of entrepreneurs.  There's something for everyone - people raising crops only, animals only, & crops + animals.

http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=50631&_tpos=1&_tpg=1
Magha Christina - requesting $325 to buy corn, yam seeds, & fowl; 18 months, 1st repayment after 4 months

http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=50632&_tpos=2&_tpg=1
Fomunyoh Martha - requesting $625 to buy cocoa, coffee, pigs, & goats (all for re-selling at profit); 18 months, 1st repayment after 4 months

http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=50715&_tpos=3&_tpg=1
Johnson Ntakan - requesting $200 to buy fowl, piglets, & animal feed ; 24 months, 1st repayment after 4 months

http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=50717&_tpos=4&_tpg=1
Tata Kenedy Awa - requesting $725 to buy pigs, fowl, goats, & yam & cocoa seedlings; 24 months, 1st repayment after 4 months

http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=50721&_tpos=5&_tpg=1
Mary Ambang - requesting $600 to buy goats & cassava (to make in to regional food for sale); 24 months, 1st repayment after 4 months

http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=50723&_tpos=6&_tpg=1
Margaret Ngum Banyong - requesting $1,200 to buy pigs, chicks, feed, medications, flour, sugar, and oil; 24 months, 1st repayment after 4 months

http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=50727&_tpos=7&_tpg=1
Fri Janet - requesting $500 to buy pigs, chickens, animal feed, wood; 24 months, 1st repayment after 4 months

http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=50735&_tpos=9&_tpg=1
Ndang Beatrice Enih - requesting $500 to buy seeds & manure to help with crop growth; 18 months, re-payed monthly with no mention of 4 month wait till 1st repayment


Some enchanting photos & heart-breaking stories.


BTW - has anybody seen the documentary called The Hunger Season?  It's about the terrible drought in Swaziland & the country's attempts to pull a share of UN food aid.  Although the UN food aid program does a good job with what it can, this doco absolutely convinced me that helping those who can to grow crops is a much more effective & empowering approach to the world food crisis.  Many people genuinely rely on the food aid & cannot grow for themselves, but some regions of the country is still fertile & it is a terrible injustice to have people there become reliant on food aid.  Not only are they no longer helping to sustain their family & community, but they are losing the skills & wisdom for their trade.  Thanks, Marsha, for raising the agricultural entrepreneur's plight 

[wannado]

Thanks so much for highlighting the Cameroon loans.  GHAPE is one of my favorite MFIs, even though the loan terms tend to run long, because they tell such compelling stories and their clients seem to have such resilience in the face of extreme hardship.

It looks like all the Cameroon agricultural loans have funded now except for:

http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=50717&_tpos=4&_tpg=1
Tata Kenedy Awa - requesting $725 to buy pigs, fowl, goats, & yam & cocoa seedlings; 24 months, 1st repayment after 4 months

http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=50723&_tpos=6&_tpg=1
Margaret Ngum Banyong - requesting $1,200 to buy pigs, chicks, feed, medications, flour, sugar, and oil; 24 months, 1st repayment after 4 months

For vegetarians, take a look Joshua Kwilabya of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (requesting $1,175 for 10 months) to improve his fruit and vegetable farming
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=51898&_tpos=7&_tpg=2

And coffee lovers  should take a look at Bilda in Peru.
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=52344&_tpos=2&_tpg=1

[saabnet]

I'm really interested in adding a Cameroon loan to my portfolio, but I notice that GHAPE is a two star MFI with an N/A delinquency rate.. Does it mean that Kiva just doesn't have enough info to reliably state a high confidence level for repayment? Or does it mean, hey, loan here at your own risk. Or both?

Thanks,

-Scott
http://www.saabnet.com/scott.html

[Turtle]

Scott, not sure if you've read it already, but GHAPE (& a few other MFIs) have a note from Kiva on the MFI profile:

"This partner specializes in agricultural loans which have abnormal collection periods and, for this reason, these on time repayments cannot be accurately represented in our database. Our engineers are working on this problem, and we have chosen not to make these delinquencies public as we do not have a degree of confidence in these particular figures."
http://www.kiva.org/about/aboutPartner?id=40

Perhaps I've gone about it incorrectly, but scrolling through many of the older GHAPE loans, I didn't spot any labelled delinquent or refunded.  Not to mention they seemed to have a very high journal coverage rate - I think higher than the quoted %50 or so when you consider only loans that are fully repaid.  Sorry not to be more useful, but hope this helps some.  I'm not so experienced as most here, but if I had the credit, I'd jump on one for sure, lol.

[RichardF]

PB nailed it in terms of why no delinquency rate is reported for GHAPE.  Today, they also report a 0.00% default rate.

Default Rate 0.00%
 Amount of Ended Loans Not Repaid In Full $0
 Amount of Ended Loans $13,175
 Number Of Ended Loans 28
 Number Of Ended Loans Defaulted 0

They also state on their page they never have had a defaulted loan! 

Overview: GHAPE is a registered non-governmental, not-for-profit and apolitical organization dedicated to poverty alleviation in Cameroon, West Africa. GHAPE believes poverty is one of the oldest diseases known to mankind, and that it is a "germ" caused by the vast greed of this world. Bernadette A. Ngoh founded GHAPE in October 1998 in order to help fight this disease and improve the plight of the world's unfortunate class, "the poor."

Program Reach: GHAPE Loans have been disbursed to over 1160 borrowers, and amounts range from $30 to $800. Repayment rate has remained 100% since inception.

[saabnet]

Thanks, very helpful posts. I made my first GHAPE/Cameroon loan.

-Scott
http://www.saabnet.com/scott.html

[skbasket]

Hey Scott...  Congratulations.... You joined in the same loan that I joined in earlier today.  It also is my first Cameroon loan.

Sandy