Unicaja Banco and Sociedad Cooperativa Andaluza (SCA) El Grupo de Granada have renewed one more year the collaboration agreement under which the bank puts at the disposal of the more than 600 farmers belonging to the cooperative a specific comprehensive financial service on advantageous terms, for the development of their activities, especially in the economic crisis scenario caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In this comprehensive financial service, Unicaja Banco also includes a set of products specially designed to meet the needs of this group.
The agreement was signed recently at the cooperative’s headquarters in Castell de Ferro (Gualchos, Granada) by Unicaja Banco’s Area Manager for Granada, Manuel Conde, and by the President of El Grupo SCA, Fulgencio Torres.
The agreement demonstrates the commitment of Unicaja Banco to the farming sector and its interest to boost and facilitate the economic development of the regions where it operates and, specifically, of Granada and its Costa Tropical, where the bank has a long trajectory providing support and advice to these professionals.
Agriculture is a key element in the financing policy of Unicaja Banco. In fact, it is regarded as a determinant sector to boost the economy and to foster job creation and, therefore, for the bank it is essential to cover the needs of these professionals.
Under this agreement, Unicaja Banco provides the members of El Grupo SCA with a wide range of specific financial products and services, on advantageous conditions, such as:
- Loans for the campaign of intensive cultivation.
- Greenhouse loan (Crédito Invernadero).
- Loans to acquire farms.
- Loans to improve farms.
- Loans to install drip irrigation
- Credi-plástico (for the acquisition of plastics for greenhouses).
- Loan to acquire farm machinery.
- Tarjeta Univerde, adapting repayments to campaign income.
The cooperative El Grupo (www.elgrupo-sca.com), with more than 40 years of experience, has around 350 partners which, together with the other farmers it works with, cultivate 450 hectares in polytunnels in small farms in the Granada villages of Gualchos-Castell de Ferro, Lújar, Rubite, Jayena, Arenas del Rey-Fornes, Bérchules, Albuñol and Itrabo.
The staff hired for its daily activities reaches an average of 250 employees, including permanent and temporary workers. The main product of this cooperative, which applies the latest production process innovations, is the Dutch cucumber, sold across Europe.
