Over two million smallholder Nigerian farmers have accessed about $40.8 million in credit facilities through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)’s ‘Innovative Market-led Extension Delivery’ project in three years.
Mr Jean-Pierre Rousseau, Project Director, Winrock International, USAID, stated this on Monday at a media briefing ahead of the national impact summit on the project scheduled to be held on Wednesday in Abuja.
He said the project has exposed 2.021 million smallholder farmers to new information, technologies and services in Benue, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Kaduna, Kebbi and Niger states, with greater access to improved agricultural technologies and financial access working with micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) on alternative models of extension delivery.
Mr Rousseau said the summit becomes necessary to share the project’s impact with other key stakeholders within and outside Nigeria to catalyse adoption and sustainability across the 36 states and the FCT.
Dr Ben Odoemena, Chief of Party, USAID Feed the Future Agricultural Extension and Advisory Services Activity in Nigeria, said the project has identified 39 most impactful practices (MIPs) as key extension innovation messages or business solutions that MSMEs need to reach smallholder farmers to enhance their capacity.
He said about 70% of the improved agricultural practices are climate smart to help farmers adapt or build resilience to climate change.
“A total of 1,088 gainful jobs were created by the MSMEs, mainly youths, to cope with increasing demand for agricultural inputs and extension by the expanding number of farmers in their business networks,” he added.
[DailyTrust]