Abuja – A group of students under the platform of Students for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurship (SAGE), an NGO, have set up an online/offline Farmers’ Market in Abuja.
This is contained in a statement signed by Ms. Chinenye Udeh, the Programme Manager of the organisation, and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Tuesday.
SAGE’s mission is to help create the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders whose innovations and social enterprises address the major unmet needs of the global community.
NAN also reports that SAGE engages young people in a hands-on learning process on how to create wealth, help others and their communities.
The statement said that the students, described as `Amazing Amazons’, are from Government Girls Secondary School (GGSS), Abaji, in the FCT.
“The Farmers Market is an online and offline market where genuine farmers offer only agricultural produce they grow themselves for direct sale to the public
“By eliminating the middleman’s additional costs and multiple products handling, the imake both the farmers and the consumers benefit.
“By creating market access to rural farmers who sell their produce at fair prices to consumers, the Amazon’s SAGE team is enhancing the agricultural value chain and lifting hundreds of poor farmers out of poverty.”
According to the statement, since the farmers market is both offline and online, a daily Farmers Market has been established in Abaji, to get the farmers physically involved.
“ People in Abaji and its environs who have no access to internet, and want to see the goods physically and other business people, can purchase directly from the farmers at a cheaper bulk price.
The statement said the Amazons also facilitated training for rural farmers who were pooled in cooperatives, on improved seedlings, farming techniques and access to finance.
“Clearly, the team has taken the Sustainable Development Goals to the grassroots by addressing Goals one, two, three four, 12, 13, 15, and 17.”
It said that the students were among the lobbyists for the Senate to pass a bill for an Act to establish the National Agricultural Credit Fund to promote commercial agriculture in Nigeria.
It quoted the GGSS Abaji SAGE President, Vanessa Edzuwah saying:”This bill, if passed and signed into law, will address the current lack of legal frameworks that limit funds meant for farming going to actual farmers. ‘’
The statement said farmers and buyers could visit the website on www.farmersmarketng.com. (NAN)
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