SANASA Intl. gets $ 0.4 m to improve family farms in 1,000 Lankan villages

SANASA International Ltd. recently established a partnership with the Asian Farmers Association for Sustainable Development (AFA), to assist the small holder farmers in 1,000 villages and SMEs affiliated to 12 value chains to be more resilient and organise around cooperative enterprises in Sri Lanka.  

The project is supported by the experiences on sustainable food production in many different countries in South Asia and South East Asia, and it is powered by the generous contributions from the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD). To implement this project for three years AFA has committed $ 380,000, under Farmers for Asia project. 

SANASA International is a social enterprise affiliated to the largest people driven financial group of Sri Lanka. The SANASA brand is nurtured by nearly 56,000 volunteers attached to approximately 8000 thrift and credit cooperative societies. 

Over the last five decades, SANASA has built a sustainable network to support low-income households to access finance at an affordable interest. The voluntary movement has been able to create wealth to build its own bank, two insurance companies and a higher education institute. 

SANASA International believes that the experience of SANASA movement in addressing the issue of lack of banking and access to credit is a clear example of the power of cooperative enterprise model. The project will use the same model to improve the local food production process by linking 200 cooperatives through 50 market affiliated businesses. SANASA International will implement the project in partnership with SANASA federation and regional district unions, SANASA Insurance company, SANASA Development Bank, SANASA Campus, SANASA Uththamavi Company and The Movement for Land and Agriculture Reform.  

SANASA International said it is looking forward to engaging with those individuals and organisations who can support this initiative to create value addition to the household income of smallholder farmers and the quality and quantity improvement of local food production processes in Sri Lanka.