Smart to link farmers to lending institutions
The project, Savings, Marketing and Agriculture for Rural Transformation (Smart), is being funded by the Catholic Development Commission of Malawi (Cadecom) in partnership with Catholic Relief Services.
In an interview on Friday in Mzimba, where the organisations arranged a meeting with lending institutions and small-holder farmers, Smart project officer Kumbukani Munthali said the initiative will link farmers with the Foundation for International Community Assistance (Finca) and the National Smallholder Farmers Association of Malawi (Nasfam).
The project, also meant to make farmers in the districts self-sufficient, has mobilised people into village banks called Savings and International Lending Communities (Silic).
St Teresa Parish father Paul Chirwa asked financial institutions to bring softer conditions to ensure that the project achieve its purpose of improving the living standards of farming households in the target district.
