Why Agriculture Credit & Training?
Friendship Bridge currently has nearly 6,500 clients in the agriculture sector. Through surveys and research, we also know that 25% of our clients are financially dependent on farming. Many of these clients are subsistence farmers with low harvest yields and values. Without the tools to produce more and sell their yield, these clients are often unable to find solutions out of poverty.
To meet the unique needs of the agriculture sector, we designed our Women’s Agriculture Credit & Training program provides smallholder women farmers with financial support, technical assistance, and entrepreneurial training to help them overcome challenges such as poor soil conditions, degraded lands, limited plot sizes, and restricted access to credit and agricultural inputs. Through this program, women farmers receive microloans tailored to their agricultural needs, along with capacity-building training to enhance their production, business skills, and resilience to climate change.
The Women’s Agriculture Credit & Training program has long-term goals to do the following:
- bolster sustainable agriculture practices among small-scale farmers
- involve our clients more strategically in their family businesses
- raise income for rural, impoverished agrarian families
- create self-reliant community agriculture groups
- drive economic development in entire communities using Friendship Bridge’s proven lending and education model
