Warehouse receipt systems: lessons from Niger
This documentation provides a summary experience of a microfinance system called the “warrantage system“, or inventory credit system. Farmers access small loans from banks and microfinance institutions to finance their household generating activity incomes. The practice recognises the role of micro credit to smallholder farmers’ success and provides an appropriate response. Farmers store their end of season production surplus in a secured storage facility owned by the farmers’ cooperative. The cooperative retains one key to the storage facility while the other is given to the bank or microfinance institution. The bank then issues farmers having production surplus in the storage facility, with loans to finance their household commercial activities.