By Brenda Kayo:
National Smallholder Farmers Association of Malawi (Nasfam) has been given an opportunity to apply for a $8 million (approximately K14 billion) grant that has been provided by the International Fund for Agriculture Development (Ifad).
The fund is through the local government programme called Transforming Agriculture through Diversification and Entrepreneurship (Trade).
Ifad Country Representative Bernadette Mazarura Mukonyora said she was impressed with how Nasfam was working and promoting smallholder farmers to be productive.
She announced the grant opportunity on Tuesday when the organisation toured Nasfam Commercial (Nascommex) in Lilongwe to appreciate food processing processes.
“We are feeling very positive by the potential partnership between Ifad-funded programmes in Malawi and Nasfam. We see Nasfam as potential pipeline provided for our blended rural financing facility to support community-based organisation [s],” Mukonyora said.
Nasfam Chief Executive Office Betty Chinyamunyamu thanked Ifad for providing the opportunity to Nasfam to collaborate with Ifad.
She said if the association were given the grant, it would have a meaningful impact on farmers and Nasfam.
“We are very excited that Ifad has seen potential for collaboration to engage with us and we will look forward to more engagement on different programmes that [we] are working on,” Chinyamunyamu said.
Trade grants are aimed at promoting agriculture commercialisation for smallholder farmers.
0 Comments