• Friday, March 29, 2024
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LAPO commits N10.9bn to boost over 129,637 Rural Farmers in 2019

LAPO commits N10.9bn to boost over 129,637 Rural Farmers in 2019

The management of Lift Above Poverty Organization (LAPO) said it spent the sum of N10.9 billion to support the expansion of agricultural businesses of over 129,637 rural farmers in Nigeria in the 2019 financial year.

Osarenren Emokpae, chairman, Board of Directors of the organization made the disclosure at the 2019 annual general meeting of the financial institution in Benin City.

Emokpae said the financial support for the farmers was undertaken by LAPO Rural Development Initiative (LARDI).

He said the 2019 expenditures represents 49 percent increase over the total sum of N7,342,503,550 billion disbursed to 119,144 farmers across the country in 2018.

According to him, under the Lift Agricultural and Rural Development Initiative (LARDI), they engaged rural community, provided financial support to farmers and other economically active persons to boost their income.

“We provided support for food processing, working across various value chains such as pineapple, fishing, cassava, cocoa, providing finance and other extension services to support the sector”, he said.

He also disclosed that the organization in the period under review improved the living conditions of 1.2 million vulnerable community members with its innovative socio-economic and health services across the country.

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“In 2019, we implemented various innovative socio-economic and health empowerment programmes with significant impact on beneficiaries in rural and urban communities.

“We reached 76,244 persons with our social development programme, which encompasses gender empowerment, micro-business management, financial literacy and free legal aid.

“A total of 612,981 members of our target communities also benefited from LAPO health services including free medical treatment in rural communities, cancer screening and health sensitisation across Lagos, Edo, Rivers, Imo and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja

“Also, 976,368 general populations were provided with information through the distribution of printed enlightenment materials and aired programmes on electronic media during the year under review,” he stated.

The LAPO board chairman, listed the commissioning of the Benin Medical Care (BMC) and Diagnostics Centre as one of the organization’s sterling achievements in the period under review.

He opined that the BMC was the latest addition to the LAPO Group of vibrant autonomous institutions addressing myriads of socio-economic and health challenges confronting the poor and other vulnerable groups across the country.