The Cross River Government says it has disbursed N100 million micro-credit loans to 105 accredited Women Farmers\u2019 Co-operative Societies in the state.<\/p>\n

The Commissioner for Women Affairs, Mrs Edak Iwuchukwu, announced this in an interview newsmen\u00a0 in Calabar.<\/p>\n

Iwuchukwu said that the disbursement was done in collaboration with the state Medium Scale Enterprises Development Agency (MEDA) and the Awake Project.<\/p>\n

The commissioner added that this was to empower the women to expand their farms.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ministry has embarked on a state-wide sensitisation of women to facilitate the formation of women cooperative societies so as to weave their development initiatives and open credit windows for them.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter the exercise, 415 agro business women cooperatives were verified and accredited by the ministry and later handed over to MEDA and the Awake Project for the expansion of their farms,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Iwuchukwu, however, explained that after inspection of their farms and documentation, 105 of the cooperatives were certified to access credit.<\/p>\n

She said that the others would access the loans as soon as their farms were verified and their documentation was completed by the assessment team currently in the field.<\/p>\n

The commissioner added that N200 million had been set aside for the second set of beneficiaries, adding that women cooperative societies interested in trading were also being verified for the same purpose.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the exercise is concluded, micro-credit will equally be disbursed to enable them to expand their businesses and add value to their lives, \u2018\u2019 she said.<\/p>\n

The commissioner said that the ministry was collaborating with the wife of the state governor on broad social programmes for widows in the 18 local government areas of Cross River.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Cross River Government says it has disbursed N100 million micro-credit loans to 105 accredited Women Farmers\u2019 Co-operative Societies in the state. The Commissioner for Women Affairs, Mrs Edak Iwuchukwu, announced this in an interview newsmen\u00a0 in Calabar. Iwuchukwu said that the disbursement was done in collaboration with the state Medium Scale Enterprises Development Agency […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n