Women living in Lagos and other Nigerian cities are investing in farming by women in other parts of the huge state, earning a return on their investment and making it possible for smallholder women farmers to cultivate larger plots of land and raise more lucrative crops. The goal is to bridge the gender finance gap by providing the female farmers with access to credit, extension services and premium markets through a gender-focused lens.

A recent story on Riff Media, part of a series of stories about sustainable development in Africa funded by a Solutions Accelerator Grant from the European Journalism Foundation, gives a flavour of how it works. (This brilliant story called “Farm Like a Man:” How an App Brings Investors to Nigeria’s Female Smallholder Farmers, was originally written in German but a PDF is available in English.)