The USAID-funded Feed the Future Nigeria Rural Resilience implemented by Mercy Corps Nigeria has donated agricultural equipment to five women-owned cowpea processors from Bida, Bosso, and Chachanga Local Government Areas of Niger State.
The equipment distributed included hammer mills, dehydrators, de-stoners, threshers, and generators.
During the handover ceremony, the Country Director, Mercy Corps Nigeria, Ndubisi Anyanwu, said that the programme was meant to improve households’ nutrition and food security, improve women’s productivity and competitiveness in agribusiness, and strengthen the productivity of producer organisations.
She said, “They are expected to improve the production capacity of the women-owned cowpea processors by 40 per cent.
“The Rural Resilience Activity understands that the challenges of access and agency for women and youth in Nigeria, exacerbated by conflict, high levels of insecurity, and health shocks such as COVID-19, inhibit their participation in the productive sphere, particularly their entry into the market systems as producers and entrepreneurs.”
Anyanwu added that the cowpea processing equipment was distributed to 40 women-owned small and medium enterprises in Kebbi, Niger, Ebonyi, Benue, Borno, Yobe, Maiduguri, Adamawa, Gombe and the FCT.
“The equipment, worth N91.3 million was donated under the COVID-19 Mitigation Response programme while an additional 15 million dollars fund was awarded by the USAID to the Feed the Future Nigeria Rural Resilience Activity to deliver well-targeted cash and capital support to participants in targeted communities to prevent further backsliding and economic devastation due to the secondary impacts of COVID-19 shocks and stresses.”
The Country Director stated that the programme aligns with and reinforces the Rural Resilience Activity’s approach to Women’s Economic Empowerment.
He added that through the COVID-19 Mitigation Response program, cash transfers have been made to 51,727 participants including smallholder farmers, livestock producers, members of agricultural cooperatives and 4,321 micro-enterprise owners.
The Chief of Party, Rural Resilience Activity, Margarita Aswani, stated that the programme, in the long term, will ensure that the women processors produce high-quality processed cowpea products and extend their market reach, become more competitive and increase their productivity.
“This is part of Mercy Corps Nigeria’s approach for sustainability, ensuring linkages between the Rural Resilience Activity’s Market Systems Approach and the COVID-19 Mitigation Response program,” she said.
One of the beneficiaries from Bida LGA, Ashetu Musa, said that the hammer mills will help increase the capacity of her farm produce, expressing optimism that she will make a profit from it.
She said that in the past, she usually take her beans to other communities for milling but the donation of the hammer mills will reduce processing time for her and her team.
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