A borrower of ACRG at her nursery
Traditionally Christmas is a time of major celebration and feast in Costa Rica. People immensely enjoy the holiday season. As there is a high demand for pork at this time, the price of pigs goes up during this time. Realizing the business potential for its poor borrowers, in 2007 Asociacion Costa Rica Grameen (ACRG) innovated and introduced the "Pig Fattening Loan" program for its members. Grameen Trust is implementing ACRG with the financial support from the Whole Planet Foundation, USA.
ACRG's "Pig Fattening Loan" program is unique in Costa Rica. The borrowers use the loan to buy a small pig and fatten it over the next six months to sell during Christmas. They only pay interest on the loan at the fortnightly center meetings during the six-month loan period. They repay the principal when they sell the pig at Christmas time.
In collaboration with the Earth University, ACRG also organizes workshops to train the borrowers on prevention of pig-diseases, and collection and preparation of natural food for the pigs. Training from the experts from the Earth University helped the poor borrowers stretch their loan-money in feeding and taking care of the pigs for sale during Christmas.
The "Pig Fattening Loan" has become a very profitable loan program for the borrowers of ACRG.
In 2007, ACRG disbursed "Pig Fattening Loans" of CRC 25,000 (US$ 45) each to 170 borrowers. A borrower used CRC 15,000 to buy a small pig and used CRC 10,000 for food for the pig over the next six months. The borrower paid only CRC 400 as fortnightly installments against the interest on the microcredit. At Christmas time the borrowers sold their pigs at the market at prices ranging from CRC 70,000 to CRC 80,000. The borrowers repaid the principal after selling the pigs.
The borrowers of ACRG were very happy to participate in this highly profitable loan program. As a result, in 2008, during the second year of this loan program 450 borrowers took "Pig Fattening Loan." In 2008 the loan sizes were increased to CRC 30,000 per borrower. Borrowers used CRC 20,000 to buy a small to medium sized pig and used the rest for food for the pig.
The borrowers of ACRG have welcomed the "Pig Fattening Loan" program. No other microcredit program in Costa Rica had offered this kind of loan with such favorable terms before. The borrowers highly appreciate the simple and easy financial terms. They also value the training through which they learn to fatten a pig without much cost by collecting natural foods. Most importantly, the women borrowers of ACRG are very happy to get the profits from the sale of their pigs and earn some extra money for their family during the Christmas festival season.
Report by : Farid Uddin and Tamim Islam
|
