By Bondry Kilenga
Women farmers in Kotido district under their umbrella body Kotido Women Farmer’s Forum have urged the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development to relax guidelines for accessing funds under the GROW project.
Lilly Grace Nachan, the chairperson of the Kotido Women’s Farmers Forum said that the land title requirement in the GROW project guidelines by the banking institutions limits women due to the cultural rigidities that restricts women from owning land in Karamoja.
Nachan told the visiting Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, Matia Kasaija that women can only access land for ploughing and residence but not personally owning and placing it as a collateral for the bank loan.
She says the hurdles in accessing the GROW loans by the women has frustrated their efforts of commercializing agriculture.
Following this appeal, Dr. Emmanuel Aliba Kiiza, the chairperson Board Micro Finance Support directed the responsible officials to devise means to help the women in the Karamoja sub region to access the GROW funding.
The cabinet reduced the interest rate for women on Karamoja, Busoga and Bukedi sub region as an affirmative action to entice women to borrow the GROW funds from the banks.
