The financial wellbeing of farmers in Tharaka Nithi County is set for transformation following the training of 30 farmers and Conservation Agriculture (CA) project staff on Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA) financial model.
The training which is supported by the United Church of Canada / Canadian Food Grains Bank as part of the CA project being implemented by NCCK, is aimed at promoting financial inclusion and empowering individuals and communities to improve their livelihoods.
VSLA is a community-based microfinance model where members come together to save money regularly, and lend to each other to meet their financial needs. Profits earned from the loan interests is shared as income for the members.
The joint savings thus act as a basket from which the farmers can borrow for their urgent needs without having to sell their crops during hard times or borrow from money lenders.
The participants were taken through the policies and systems of operations, savings, loaning and investing the financial resources the VSLAs generate. They were then commissioned to train farmers across the county and organize them into VSLA groups, with technical and programmatic support from the NCCK.
The VSLA training, delivered by Fadhili Trust, is part of NCCK’s efforts to enhance agricultural and food value chains development in Tharaka Nithi County, while also empowering the farmers financially.
