The Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) has said that it is empowering 475 female cassava farmers in Uyo for the 2020 wet season farming.
Members of the Uyo female cassava farmers will receive finance through the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) for which NIRSAL Plc is playing a role as a Participating Financial Institution (PFI).
NIRSAL, in a statement, in Abuja yesterday said the women under the Uyo Women Agro Geo-Cooperative (AGC) have been structured into 475 female farmers “trained on Good Agronomic Practices and received various inputs for their use.”
NIRSAL added that “all 478 hectares of land will be mechanised throughout the planting season to enhance yields and profits and eliminate the drudgery of farming with crude implements”.
NIRSAL said the event in Akwa Ibom fits into its regional and nationwide support for farmers under the ABP.
According to NIRSAL, “a total of 2,872 rice, maize and cassava farmers belonging to Uyo Women AGC, PemoAnegbette AGC, Upalibuisi AGC, Southern Basin AGC, Integrated AGC, IjeomaAibiokula AGC, Green Money Initiative AGC and God’s Own AGCare will receive NIRSAL’s support in the Southsouth states of Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Edo and Delta while a total of 44,670 farmers cultivating on 68,771 hectares of land are benefiting nationwide”.
NIRSAL said: “Mrs. Theresa Thompson Akpan, the President of the Uyo Women AGC, described the CBN’s support through NIRSAL as a milestone in enhancing cassava production in the state”.
Speaking through Helen Akula, the Head of NIRSAL Plc’s Akwa Ibom State Project Monitoring, Reporting and Remediation Office (PMRO), the NIRSAL’s Managing Director/CEO Aliyu Abdulhameed, said NIRSAL’s support for Uyo Women AGC would not only empower the 475 farmers of the AGC but will create jobs for many families in the community.