‘There is need to reach out to real women farmers’

Tell us about the N1billion special fund provided by CBN for women?This fund was meant for about 5,100 members of Quintessential. Some have been able to benefit from the almost one billion special fund released by CBN. Presently we are thinking of expanding to a few more states. We disbursed funds to two states. We […]

Tell us about the N1billion special fund provided by CBN for women?
This fund was meant for about 5,100 members of Quintessential. Some have been able to benefit from the almost one billion special fund released by CBN. Presently we are thinking of expanding to a few more states. We disbursed funds to two states. We used them as pilot states, and since it worked we are thinking of disbursing to another 10 states. That is why this meeting was quite crucial.

What is the meeting about?
Our year ends on every March 31st and our new year begins April 1st. So anybody or group from the states who have not settled their financial reports, minutes of their meetings for the whole year has to do so at the meeting.
They are supposed to bring by hand what they have been doing at Quintessential at state level so we can integrate it. Because we want to keep good books, somehow they think because you are a women’s group, you can manage their affairs anyhow. No, this cannot happen here so we encourage them to do it like any proper organization and keep records. The meeting gives us an opportunity to give them what we have for the following year.
 
What do these women use these monies for?
Some of these women have been farming products like cassava, rice, yam and other farm stuffs. But unfortunately they are unable to make any major supply, because they do very little farming and they have said that if they had more money they can do more.
So what we did as a group is to bind them together as a team and we give them more money so they can do much more. Because they do not even know the customers who can buy plenty of these products we do, so we find them the customers. We also see that the products get to where they need to go so they can return the loan and scale up from small farmers and engage in large scale farming.
 
How have you found the financiers to package the products?
We were lucky to find financiers to encourage the women. It has been good because we are disbursing funds now. One thing I will say is not really our problem now is finance for our members. We have solved that problem.
 
What food stuff are the women producing?
Rice, we are not just packaging rice, we have a rice plant in Rivers state that produces 10 tons per hour, so we can be able to bag quite a large number to go round the South -South states and the Lagos market where people buy these rice. But we buy these rice from all Quintessential members from all around the country because the factory can take it.

So Quintessential is making an input to agricultural development in the country?
 You know a lot of our members were already farmers, but none of them registered for these facilities because the serious ones are always on the farm. We look for them on the farms, not the political cooperators that are always in the house.
The ones on the farm are the real people that want to work and bring their products. The thing is these people have always been working but no one gave them any assistance because they were hard to locate since they are always on their farms. We take time to find these people that have made impact and advise them properly and help them with financial assistance among others.
 
Do you call that an agricultural input?
We have contributed to the agricultural development in this country. We have been able to give these women a positive psyche about Nigeria especially among our members, and it will help them negotiate better with others. We have contributed to sole businesses and made people at the grassroots to know that somebody somewhere remembers them.
 
How are the micro- finance banks involved in this?
 CBN will never give any woman money directly; they only work with financial institutions, and before you can access anything from CBN you have to come with a financial institutions that you work with. Once you identify the financial institution they can now route the money through that financial institution and you repay through that financial institutions.
 We have signed MOU with about 27 micro- financial banks and institutions and I will say that is not shabby at all. A lot of financial institutions were here today and we are awaiting feedback from a lot of others. We can’t take chances because these women are using their loan money to invest in their business. So we have some of the best hands helping us succeed and we are helping them to empower themselves.