Rural financing and rural cooperative sin sub-Saharan Africa will be under debate at a three-day seminar due to begin Wednesday in Maputo, which will bring together 170 delegates from at least 30 African countries, the seminar’s organisers said.

Entitled, “Provision of effective rural finance methodologies for incrementing productivity,” the seminar is intended to contribute to spreading rural finance in the sub-Saharan region and improving the business climate, improving rural finance legislation and seeking to attract development partners.

The 2009 seminar dealt with the opportunities and challenges of financing the value chain whilst in 2010 it focused on transforming the problems identified in 2009 into specific solution to be applied by development partners.

The 2011 seminar, held in Malawi, focused on the role of agricultural loans in speeding up economic growth.

Previous meetings took place in Uganda (2007), Madagascar (2008), Rwanda (2009), Zambia (2010) and Malawi (2011). (macauhub)