CBE Enables Farmers to Buy Agricultural Inputs Digitally
ADDIS ABABA – The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) has partnered with the Oromia Cooperatives Agency to enable farmers to purchase agricultural inputs digitally.
The top officials of the Bank and the Cooperatives Agency signed the agreement to unveil the digital transaction system on Monday.
The system allows farmers to use CBE’s mobile banking or CBE Birr to buy inputs such as fertilizers from the agency as well as enterprises at the Kebel level.
Farmers can make transactions without the need to have bank accounts or go to CBE Branches through CEB Birr after depositing only 30,000 Birr first, the bank says.
CBE’s President Abe Sano said the system would help accelerate the transaction in the agricultural sector, pledging to fully digitize the scheme next year.
CBE has been providing loans to farmers in the region to purchase agricultural inputs for nearly three decades. The total value of loans disbursed has now reached 36 billion Birr, says the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia.
