11 December 2019 – The Albanian Agribusiness & Tourism Support Facility (AATSF) in cooperation with the Agricultural and Rural Development Agency (RDA) conducted a series of trainings on technical knowledge and financial support schemes for Albanian agriculture.
All Agri-Point’s employees in the areas covered by ARDA, such as Tirana, Gjirokastra, Pogradec, Fier and Shkodra participated in the training, which had the purpose to explain the AATSF and its benefits for agricultural clients and Partner Financial Institutions (PFIs) and equip the Agri-Point staff with the skills to inform potential clients about AATSF.
AATSF Deputy Team Leader, Ms. Adela Leka, together with the AATSF team conducted an interactive training identifying opportunities of farmers and agribusinesses and strengthening Agri-Point staff in providing technical support.
The training contained an informative overview of what farmers and agribusinesses will need to know to apply for financial packages provided by PFIs and the potential role Agri-Points can play in support them in accessing finance.
This training also equipped the Agri-Point staff in providing information to farmers and agribusinesses about support programs like AATSF, the National Scheme, European Union IPARD calls and other schemes offered directly by Financial Institutions.
During this training the participants were introduced to the methods of performing: a) Qualitative and quantitative analysis of farmers / agribusinesses to support them in their business needs, and b) Structured registration of business data information, not only as a reason to access financial institutions, but also to analyze / evaluate their businesses.
The AATSF team shared with all participants the technical value chain studies to provide a knowledge basis and information for further dissemination among Agri-Point clients.
In addition to enhancing the technical skills of Agri-Point’s staff, the training was a great opportunity for establishing a bridge between business and banking, promoting AATSF and the possibility of increasing future disbursements due to the cooperation established between Agri-Point’s staff, AATSF and PFIs.