Stanbic Bank granted the loan facility as part of a green finance product that aims to support climate action in the agricultural industry. With the loan injection, the company will be able to expand operations with another 250 hectares of food production, growing sugar beans, lucerne crops, and white maize. The company partnered with the Botswana Development Corporation (BDC) in 2016, with the latter leasing the farm known as Talana Farms to Kwenantle for 15 years. Speaking this week during the solar projects groundbreaking ceremony, Kwenantle Farmers director, Limbi Tlhalerwa, said that to date more than P72 million had been ploughed into the farms' operations, with key investments in irrigation systems, heavy plant machinery and other farm assets.
“We have put more than P72 million into this farm with money from investors and some from Stanbic Bank, most of it going into plant machinery and the building of silos. We think of ourselves as a growth-focused company,” she said. Going forward Kwenantle wants to establish itself as a trailblazer in the fodder production value chain. According to Tlhalerwa, Botswana's pastoral value chain needs a supportive fodder production industry to feed livestock, especially with reoccurring droughts. “We are currently the leading producers of lucerne and are going to grow to establish the market in Botswana.
It is a first in our region and we want to make this a national story,” she said. For his part, Stanbic Bank Head of Product Development and Banking Lesego Osman, the P27 million loan granted to Kwenantle demonstrates the commitment of the bank to supporting impact and sustainable finance. He further added that the solar project will be able to provide a 139-hectare cover of solar power, which will have a good bearing on the economics of Kwenantle. “It’s not just about the numbers for us, it’s about the impact and Kwenantle farms providing over 139 hectares cover of solar demonstrates this impact. We live in a country with ample sunlight and it is an opportunity to tap into that to use sustainable energy in different industries,” he said.
