A ‘Call to Action’ For the Industry at Large
Instead of providing donations for land documents, as industry representatives across the value chain, we believe sector players can have structured interventions that enable the market to fully develop. Here are some suggestions:
- Customer Sensitizations
The cost of a land document includes the costs of customer sensitizations i.e. educating the communities about the need and purpose of land documents and how to use them. To address the above, sector players can finance the process of educating communities on the need and purpose of documents by paying the service providers like Meridia directly. This will reduce the amount that should be paid by the customer, making the document even more affordable.
- Chief Engagements
Sector players especially governments and policy makers can also engage customary land owners directly in workshops and conferences. Through these workshops, chiefs can define a standardized process of land documentation and lay the foundations for engaging service providers like Meridia. This would significantly reduce the time and costs of entering a new market, and also reduce the cost of the document for the farmers.
- Financing and Extension Services
Meridia’s ability to serve more customers is inhibited by its inability to pre-finance documentation costs. A possible solution to this is that the sector players for example buying companies coordinate payment and collections for the farmers directly, while development banks and impact investors take on the pre-financing or first-loss guarantees.