The Federal Government has declared to continue the Rural Finance Institution Building Programme, RUFIN, to empower more local farmers in all the 12 participating states across the country. This was made known by the Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh, during a two-day media tour to beneficiaries of the programme in Lagos.
The Minister, who was represented by his Senior Adviser on International Donor Partners, Appel Auta, said despite the fact that International Fund for Agricultural Development, IFAD, would stop financing RUFIN following the completion of its 7-year implementation be sustained because of its remarkable impact on rural farmers.
Ogbeh said the reason for the media tour was to assess the impact of the programme on farmers and to ascertain reasons why the program should continue after the 7-year implementation time frame. In his remarks, the Lagos State Commissioner of Agriculture, Oluwatoyin Suarau, disclosed that the Lagos State Government had approved the extension of RUFIN to two other local government areas apart from the existing, Ikorodu, Epe and Badagry, which include Ojo and Ibeju-Lekki.
Suarau, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture, Dr. Olayiwole Onasanya, said the gesture was to maintain the continuity of the programme if IFAD stops funding it.
The Deputy National Coordinator RUFIN, Mrs. Ufaruna Uneku, explained how the programme has been of great benefit to rural farmers to the extent that some of them have been packaging their produce for exports. She applauded the farmers for quick return of loans which made her described farmers as being credible.
The Lagos State Coordinator, RUFIN, Mrs. Funmi Bello, also explained that with the programme, farmers had been trained on capacity building, linking them to sources of finances, and as a result have been able to expand their level of productivity.
RUFIN is designed to improve the performance of member-based non-bank Rural Finance Institutions to enable them develop sustainable Rural Micro- Finance Institutions in the participating states. The goal of the programme which covers 12 states is to complement on-going agricultural and rural development projects and programmes across the country and also to improve the income, food security and general living conditions of poor rural households, particularly women, youth and the physically challenged.