The parliamentary Public Accounts committee has grilled the officials in the Ministry of finance over 46 billion shillings which is lying idle yet it was meant for Agricultural credit facility for commercial farmers. The committee chaired by Jinja East Member of Parliament Paul Mwiru noted that 46 billion shillings of the Agricultural credit facility is idle for over a year while farmers are lacking loans and credit.
Members of Parliament discovered that this revolving fund in terms of Agricultural credit facility could have had difficult conditions for farmers to access it. They discovered that even some commercial farmers who accessed this agriculture credit defaulted 2 billion shilling.
The Director finance, David Kalyango, told the committee that the Agricultural credit facility is idle because banks face occasional delays from the farmers who applied for this fund. The undersecretary in the Ministry of finance, Betty Kasimbazi, pleaded with the public accounts committee for it to prevail over parliament so as this Agricultural Credit Facility scheme is reviewed to ensure it benefits more farmers.
This Agricultural Credit Facility started in 2009 to help farmers to access funds to finance their agricultural production.