No fewer than 49,000 farmers from three oil producing states smiled home recently with support to aid their trade. The farmers are from three states of Ondo, Edo and Delta. They got handsome financial support from The Partnership for Initiative in Niger Delta, The PIND.
The body said the farmers and people in the small and medium scale enterprises sector, in the three states, got a total sum of N10bn in 2023. This was contained in a statement issued by the PIND’s Executive Director, Mr Tunji Idowu in Akure. The PIND’s executive director explained that the development was part of its intervention in the development of the Niger Delta region of the country.
Idowu said,” Some of the foundation’s most impactful initiatives and interventions for the year (2023) included: working with about 100 service providers through its Market Systems Development project to support over 49,000 farmers (46.35 per cent females) with recorded cumulative investments by PIND-supported farmers and MSMEs recorded at over N10 Billion.”
According to him, despite the socio-economic challenges, including rising inflation and foreign exchange rate fluctuations which affected purchasing power in the country, the organisation still made efforts to exceed expectations in delivering on its mission to facilitate peace and equitable economic growth in the Niger Delta.
He said ” The year 2023 saw us exceeding expectations and achieving several milestones as we consolidated our previous work and successes while exploring new opportunities”. They don’t just do a random pick. Rather, he said, “Together with our partners, [PIND] continued to find creative, people-centred ways to carry out our mission to facilitate peace and equitable economic growth in the Niger Delta.” The Niger-Delta-centric PIND, which started in 2010 by giving out grants to other implementers, has since evolved into a go-to resource, convener, and implementer of development programs and projects for other donors in the region.
The PIND boss noted that the organisation had accomplished all its projects through robust programmes focused on community-driven, research-backed needs: prosperity and peace through economic growth and peacebuilding.
