An International Development Organisation, Oxfam, has implemented a village savings and loans initiative for women farmers in seven local government areas in Benue.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that this is to promote financial inclusion to enhance agricultural development and food security.
Oxfam Head of Programmes, Mr Constant Tchona, made this known on Sunday at the sideline of the World Food Day celebration with the theme “Climate is changing: Food and agriculture must too”.
Oct. 16 was set aside since 1976 as a day for people to declare their commitment towards hunger and poverty.
Tchona said that the benefiting local government areas are Makurdi, Okpokwu, Gboko, Buruku, Logo, Ukum and Vandeikya.
He gave the assurance that more local governments would enjoy the same benefits in the future.
Tchona said that Oxfam has been working with Women in most communities in Benue on issues around financial inclusion and agricultural value chain.
He added that the agricultural scheme was a self-managed and capitalised microfinance methodology.
“It will create for the female farmers a safe space to pull local resources, it offers savings, credit and insurance services in markets outside the reach of formal financial institutions,” he said.
He said that more than 150 clusters of village savings and loans farmers groups with over 4,000 farmers in Benue have 79 per cent of women as members.
Tchona also said that in a bid to address the challenges related to information, Oxfam and some ICT companies are developing a mobile platform for farmers in the state.
He added that the platform would include mobile phones, web, radio to facilitate information for farmers, enhance communication and provide business linkage and visibility to ready markets.
“The mobile platform will ensure farmers are linked to the main value chain actors, buyers, financing institutions, transporters and extension services,” he said.
Speaking on the theme of this year’s celebration, he said climate change is already hitting hard and it is affecting the women who were the most vulnerable.
“Our soft loans will address issues of women difficulty to access means of production such as land.
“It will stop violent conflicts that ensue from competing over scarce resources due to climate change,” he said.
Oxfam has been working in Benue communities since 2002 to promote crop production, animal husbandry as well as rendering humanitarian services.
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