Oikocredit invests in Ugandan tea processor Kayonza
Tea plantlets at Kayonza Tea Factory. Photo credit: Solidaridad & Joshua Rukundo.
Solidaridad helped community enterprise Kayonza Growers Tea Factory secure a USD 3.15 million loan from Oikocredit, for the benefit of Kayonza's 7,500 smallholder farmers.
The Ugandan community enterprise Kayonza Growers Tea Factory’s efforts to deter deforestation, soil degradation, wetland encroachment, and water shortages in one of the oldest rainforests in the world, earned them the UN Development Programme’s Equator Prize back in 2015.
Working with tea experts from the global Solidaridad network, Kayonza have now landed a USD 3.15 million loan from Oikocredit. Oikocredit’s loan will be used to build a second factory to process their soaring tea yields for the benefit of the 7,500 smallholder farmers who own the tea processor.
Geoffrey K. Musyoki, Agriculture Loans Specialist at Oikocredit, says: “Kayonza is an excellent match for Oikocredit. Our investment will allow Kayonza to boost its position in the global tea trade, giving the new factory the potential to be a huge catalyst for development in the area.”
