Bashir Opaluwa Idris
Kogi State Project Coordinator of Agro Climatic Resilience in Semi Arid Landscapes Project (ACReSAL), Barrister Ladi Jato has called on would be beneficiaries of Community Revolving Fund to judiciously utilize the funds for the overall objectives of the initiatives.
Barrister Ladi made the call in a message during the Training of Community Revolving Fund CIGs, CRFMC, LGPMC and CBAs on implementation of CRF at Etahi Micro watershed, Okene.
Represented by the Social Livelihood Officer (SLO) of ACReSAL, Mr. Suleiman Mahmud-Obansa, Barrister Ladi said the Community revolving fund present higher potential for sustainability and scaling-up.
According to her, the Community Revolving Fund is targeted to assist farmers to get soft loan that will revolve around.
While commending Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo for supporting the project, Barrister Ladi Jato called on the participants to cooperate with the facilitators for the success of the program.
The Desk Officer for Community Revolving Fund of Kogi ACReSAL, Mrs. Vivian Yunusa who is one of the resource persons, said the CRF is a village level fund to support community/farmer cooperatives to undertake investments specific to the climate-smart agricultural intervention.
According to her, the CRF is not a grant but rather an investment fund for the village that can revolve and grow over time.
While highlighting the participants on the modalities for assessing the loan and repayment methods among others, Mrs. Vivian said part of the requirement is that the loan can be assessed only by farmers through a registered association.
On his part, the Agric Specialist of Kogi ACReSAL, Mr. Yahaya Haruna who tutored the participants on Processing and Preservation of Seeds/Grains, described processing as the transforming, packaging and grading of agricultural produce for future use.
Mr. Haruna assured the participants of the support of the State Government to enable them improve in their production.
Responding on behalf of the participants, Mr. Alabi Moses from Ogori Magongo Community and Mrs. Safiratu Amodu of Check Point Community, Okene, commended the foresight of Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo and the ACReSAL project for finding their communities worthy of the projects and pledged their total support to the project.
Highlight of the programme was the formation of Board of Trustee and Community Based Agents for the project.
