Sterling Bank Plc has entered a partnership with Mercy Corps to train more than 90,000 farmers on better agricultural practices to improve output and grow the sector.
The programme, Feed the Future Nigeria Rural Resilience Activity, is a five-year programme funded by United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the Feed the Future Project.
Giving details of the intervention during the official signing of the Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) which held virtually, Group Head, Agriculture, and Solid Mineral Finance, Sterling Bank, Bukola Awosanya, noted that the partnership with Mercy Corps Nigeria is in tandem with the financial institution’s commitment to the economic recovery of the country as recession and food inflation bite harder.
She said: “Agriculture is pivotal to our strategy as a financial institution.
“It had been clear to us before now that Nigeria would only prosper when we place priority on core areas of our national life.
“We have remained faithful to this strategy for years and this MOU represents an expression of our faith in the agribusiness value chain as well as its place in economic recovery and development,” Awosanya stated.”
Ndubuisi Anyanwu, Country Director at Mercy Corps Nigeria, said the project became necessary considering the need to support critical sectors and stakeholders in parts of Nigeria as the international organisation had done in other countries of the world.
Chief of Party, Feed the Future Nigeria, Rural Resilience Activity, Margarita Aswani, pointed that her organisation believes that ensuring economic recovery and development is one of the many ways to expand opportunities for every citizen, noting that Sterling Bank’s role is critical to this process.
“We are glad to enter into this partnership with Sterling, seeing as it aligns with the bank’s HEART Strategy.
“The many opportunities in this project will improve the lives of every stakeholder, especially the small-holder farmers.”
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