Kwara collaborates with HerVest on Gender Finance Project for 1000 women farmers

The Kwara State Government, through the Office of the Agriculture Technical Adviser to the Executive Governor has collaborated with HerVest, an inclusive fintech, to project finance and train 500 rural female farmers across the state.

The training which centres on best agronomy practices and financial literacy is designed to enable female farmers make informed business decisions while providing them with access to credit, key inputs and premium markets to grow their farm enterprises

The HerVest team was led by the Technical Adviser Agriculture, Abdulquawiy Olododo in a courtesy visit to the Deputy Governor, Kayode Alabi on April 1, 2022.

During the visit, the CEO and co-founder, HerVest, Mrs Solape Akinpelu, emphasized HerVest’s mission to bridge the $42bn gender finance gap in Africa with over 30% of funding trapped in agriculture by providing urban and peri-urban African particularly female farmers with access to credit extension services and premium markets through a gender-focused lens.

She further expressed her excitement in collaborating with the state government on this feat and emphasized female empowerment as an organic catalyst for economic growth.

According to her, women are natural accelerators who reinvest large percentages of their income into their households and therefore should be empowered with capacity to thrive. 

The Deputy Governor, Mr Kayode Alabi, applauded the groundbreaking project and expressed the state’s readiness to support it while also validating the need for gender inclusion in global entrepreneurship through agriculture.

Mr Abdulquawiy Olododo assured the HerVest team of the farmers’ commitment to work in compliance with the terms and conditions of the project. He further maintained that the partnership with the State Government is the right step toward the actualization of the state’s Agricultural sustainable developmental goals.

Emmanuel Ukoh