Posted on July, 11, 2019 at 10:56 am
Written by Emily Kaliwo
Government will introduce Financial Access for Rural Markets Smallholders and Enterprises (FARMSE) in Chiradzulu to increase access to and use of a range of sustainable financial services by rural households and micro, medium and small enterprises.
Programme Coordinator for FARMSE, Dixon Ngwende made the remarks on Wednesday at the Boma when briefing District Executive Committee (DEC) members on the programme.
He said this would be done to reduce poverty, improve livelihoods and enhance resilience of rural households on a sustainable basis.
“Research shows that financial services are common in urban areas and limited in rural areas therefore we will work hand in hand with partners like financial Service providers to develop demand driven, simple to use, low transaction cost savings and loan products, highly sustainable for low income rural households,” Ngwende said.
He added that this would generate interest for people in the community to use financial services.
Director of Administration for Chiradzulu District Council, Elestina Mwame commended the programme saying it is a good development that it would change lives of people in rural areas positively.
FARMSE which is a national wide programme with demand driven outreach, will be implemented for seven years from 2018 to 2025 targeting youth and women with fund from Government of Malawi, International Fund for Agricultural Development(IFAD) and private sectors amounting to US$ 57.7 million.
In Chiradzulu implementing partners are NBS Bank, HEIFER International and Cumo Microfinance.
Source: Malawi News Agency (MANA Online)