Banco Adopem extends its Rural and Environmental Finance (Finanzas Rurales y Ambiente – FRA) program to the whole Dominican territory to support farmers living in vulnerable rural and peri-urban areas with “green” microfinance products and services.
The program focuses on small scale agriculture, the most important livelihood in these localities. It offers loans to finance projects owned by low-income people whose activities are subjected to weather and climatic risks. The Dominican Republic ranks fifth in the Latin American region in terms of climate vulnerability, which is why it is essential to make these solutions available and accessible to mitigate such risks.
With these loans, farmers and producers can implement environmental-friendly practices, improving their resilience towards climate change effects, and at the same time, increasing their incomes. Additionally, it pushes financial inclusion, following a deeper and wider outreach.
Banco Adopem, an institution of the BBVA Microfinance Foundation, is the first regulated financial enitity in the country. It has a sustainable productive loan program, which includes innovative financial and technological services to improve the lives of rural population segments.
The FRA program was launched in 4 provinces and has expanded to 19 more. The microfinance institution has disbursed around EUR 1.27 million so that more than 1,700 entrepreneurs could turn their businesses into environmentally sustainable facilities.
Official presentation of Banco Adopem’s FRA program expansion
Three projects are currently active in different territories nationwide. The first one, in the southern region, has been developed together with CTA (Technical Center of Agricultural and Rural Cooperation), to offer adaptive solutions to climate change and to promote financial inclusion in rural areas.
The second one involves the Microfinance for Ecosystem-based-Adaptation to climate change program or MEbA, in conjunction with UN Environment. The last one designs and promotes the Vivienda Rural Verde (Green Rural Housing) loan, developed together with ADA–REDCAMIF–REDOMIF.