A loan helped a member to pay for improved seed, organic inputs and tractor rental, which will allow this farmer to escape subsistence by farming a larger area with a higher yield.


Isatu's Female Farmers Group's story

Isatu C (1st on left), the featured borrower of Isatu's Female Farmers, is a master farmer in Maforay village and has a large family of five. She is passionate about business, and likes to help younger women in the village get their start.

Isatu is a seasoned farmer whose rice farming business was hard hit during Sierra Leone's 2014-2017 Ebola crisis. She has since recovered her business very slowly due to predatory lending and a lack of access to financing. She has organized a large group of other women who, like her, are currently trapped in a cycle of subsistence and take extremely high-interest loans for poor-quality inputs during planting time.

A no-interest Kiva loan will enable this group of determined women to throw off the shackles of predatory lending, expand and prosper. Additionally, the global COVID-19 pandemic is causing food shortages in some areas of Sierra Leone as imported rice becomes more scarce. A Kiva loan will empower these women to increase their local rice production and enhance food access in Sierra Leone at a time when this is badly needed.

In this group: Isatu, Mayany, Amie, Adama, Balay, Marie, Marie, Marie, Iye, Fatu, Hawa


This loan is special because:

It enables farmers to access farm inputs to improve their yield for increased income.



Loan details


Lenders and lending teams




Loan details