ERPAR SAE

MEDA,¹ one of the project’s main sponsors, is a nongovernmental organization (NGO) that supports socioeconomic development programs in several Latin American countries, as well as countries in southern Africa and the former Soviet Union. MEDA Paraguay ("MEDA Py") was created in 1996 to bring together businesspeople interested in investing in agribusinesses in Paraguay. Its goal is to fight poverty and strengthen the economic and social fabric. The organization has developed successful socioeconomic models in other parts of the country targeting areas with the largest population of small farmers.

The project consists of building an agribusiness plant to produce ethanol (fuel alcohol) from processed sugar cane and/or cassava with a production capacity of 40,000 liters of alcohol per day (some 12 million liters per year when operating at full capacity). The plant will be located in north central Paraguay, in the department of San Pedro. It also involves planting some 400 hectares of sugar cane to supply about 35%-40% of the sugar cane required as a raw material. The project is expected to directly benefit at least 400 sugar cane producers and 500 cassava producers, all of them local.

The IIC loan would be used to finance part of the industrial plant and the agricultural production module. The loan proposed by the IIC is long-term, with a grace period of up to two years. Such a repayment term is extremely advantageous for the project given the kind of investment required and the time required to reach maturity and the breakeven point.