SME Development Finance Corporation (SDFC) is set to provide financial aid to farmers associated with The National Corporation for Agriculture (AgroNat) at the close of a successful round of discussions.

AgroNat has been making many efforts to provide better opportunities for the farmers registered with them. Most recently, AgroNat hosted discussions with SDFC, a corporation tasked with providing loans to small and middle-income enterprises, to provide financial to AgroNat associated farmers under special interest rates. AgroNat revealed in a tweet on Monday that they had engaged in discussions with SDFC to provide financial aid to farmers part of their contract farming project, initiatlly hosted in islands of Laamu atoll, which is scheduled to be introduced to three of the nations northernmost atolls soon.

AgroNat is a state-owned company entrusted with the overall mandate to assist in developing the agricultural sector and marketing agricultural goods in the Maldives. Due to limitations presented by the Covid-19 pandemic, AgroNat has mostly focused their efforts along the Greater Male' Region in recent months, but has slowly begun expanding their operations to different atolls as Covid-restrictions are eased across the country.

Aside from Laamu atoll, opportunities for contract farming have been introduced in an additional 11 islands in association with the United Nations Development Programme. AgroNat has revealed the aim of the program is to reduce the Maldivian government's reliance on imports to ensure food security in the country. Farmers who register for contract farming with AgroNat will have the corporation buy their produce and make them available for sale across the nation, giving farmers a fair opportunity to market and make an equitable income from their goods.