No fewer than 3,740 smallholder farmers, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), agro-businesses and cowpea processors in Niger received the United States Agency for International Development’s COVID-19 mitigation grant amounting to N295 million.
The Senior Programme Officer, Cash Transfer Programme, Rural Resilience Activity, Christiana Wakawa, made this known at a COVID-19 Mitigation Grant Closeout meeting with traditional rulers and beneficiaries in Minna on Wednesday.
She said that the beneficiaries comprised 3, 565 smallholder farmers, 165 small and medium enterprises, five lead firms in agro-businesses and five cowpea processors.
Wakawa explained that the beneficiaries under the smallholder farmers and SMEs got N78, 000 each while each of the five lead firms in agro-businesses was given N1 million.
She said that the cowpea processors had yet to be disbursed but the donor agency was already working out modalities for them to also get the grant.
She also said that the USAID’s Rural Resilience Activity was a five-year Programme targeting rural farmers with an emphasis on women and youths to mitigate the negative impact of COVID-19 by assisting them to start up businesses or expand the existing ones.