Nigerian smallholder farmers have expressed optimism concerning meeting the growing food demand of the country with the advantages of the new mobile app while some farmers have been provided with combined harvesters, and other essential farm tools to boost agricultural productivity. The mobile app is called FarmersWallet, and it allows farmers to save money towards subsequent cropping seasons that would transform the lives of millions of smallholder farmers.
The smallholder farmers’ confidence in boosting food supply in Nigeria followed by the unveiling of the FarmersWallet mobile app. The Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of FarmersWallet, Engr. Iorlaha Valentine, said the initiative was meant to break the chain of insufficiency that long held back smallholder farmers from achieving desired goals in agricultural development, saying the digital platform can provide more than just farm inputs.
“We are creating a digital platform, the first ever digital cooperative financing in Nigeria that allows our users (smallholder farmers) to save at their convenience and securely for farm inputs, such as seedlings, agrochemicals, fertilizers and mechanisation.
“FarmersWallet is designed to address the unique challenges faced by our smallholder farmers and we firmly believe it will play a vital role in unlocking investment by the farmers themselves, strengthening our agricultural value chain, and ensuring that our smallholder farmers are better equipped to meet the growing food demands of this country,” the CEO said. On his part, The Chairman of the Forum of Agricultural Commodity Heads in Benue State, China Peters, observed that the opportunity created by the new app would foster an environment where farmers in the state would thrive, contributing not only to their families, but also to the economic growth of the state, and the entire nation.
“At a time when the agricultural sector faces numerous challenges, including climate change, market fluctuations and access to finance and quality farming inputs, the introduction of the FarmersWallet mobile app is a timely intervention,” Peters said.
The state Caretaker Chairman of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Chief Abel Owiocho, on his part, stressed that technology-driven agriculture was now in vogue, and urged farmers across the state to embrace the innovation for their own good.
“The real thing now is technology. We should all embrace it despite the challenges of some farmers in the interior who don’t have knowledge about apps. But we will take the knowledge to such farmers”, Owiocho stated.
Meanwhile, the Kano State Agro-Pastoral Development Project (KSADP), in collaboration with the Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA), has provided farmers in the state with 12 combined harvesters, sprayers, Hijet vehicles, solar-powered pumps, welding and fabrication kits, and other essential farm tools to boost agricultural productivity.
The items were presented to the farmers during a high-level workshop organised by SAA in collaboration with the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and the Kano State Government.
At the occasion, the Kano State Governor, Alhaji Abba Yusuf, represented by his deputy, Comrade Aminu Gwarzo, urged beneficiaries to make good use of the equipment distributed to them to enhance farming.
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