Case Study: AFR’s Agricultural Credit Units Project

The ACU project was designed to address existing market failures on the supply and demand sides of the agricultural finance market which have resulted in agricultural loans comprising only 6% of outstanding loans in Rwanda. At the time of project inception, existing agricultural credit products were weak and inappropriate to farmers’ needs while financial service providers faced challenges with high non-performing loan rates of agricultural portfolios. To address these market failures in agricultural finance, the ACU project was designed with the purpose of increasing access to financial services for poor rural and urban people (especially women and youth) that engage in agricultural activities and micro, small, and medium agribusiness enterprises (MSMEs).