Every Woman Agriculture Empowerment Initiative (EWAEI) has asked governments in Nigeria to prioritise women in their agricultural planning.
National President of the non-governmental organisation, Comfort Babalola, made the call while highlighting the challenges faced by women in the agriculture sector.
Speaking at the award and magazine launch organised in commemoration of this year’s International Women’s Day (IWD), Babalola said it had not been easy for women to access grants and even loans due to excessively stringent conditions.
Women make up almost half of the world’s farmers, and over the last few decades, they have broadened their involvement in agriculture’, according to the World Bank.
But smallholder farmers, who make up 80 percent of farmers in Nigeria, have been projected to be more vulnerable to the greater scourge of the Covid-19 pandemic.
As the primary caregivers to families and communities, women provide food and nutrition; they are the human link between the farm and the table.
‘It is not easy for women to acquire land on their own. These are some of the challenges faced by we women farmers, and women contribute over 70 percent in the agricultural value chain, right from the farm to the store and the table’, she said.
‘Women are the cornerstone of agriculture so emphasis should be placed on women when planning for agriculture. We demand inclusivity. We want the narrative changed’.
For her part, the founder of Mama Foodstuff Enterprise and also an awardee and beneficiary of EWEI, Lilian Gold stressed the need for improved national security.
‘Right now, some of us cannot go to the farm for fear of being attacked, kidnapped, or even killed outrightly’, Gold said.
In January 2021, Value Seeds, in partnership with Mastercard Foundation, launched a two-year agricultural project to benefit 10,000 women in Nigeria.
The project is part of Mastercard Foundation’s Covid-19 Recovery and Resilience intervention aimed at helping farmers recover from the adverse impact of the pandemic.
Source: Leadership
Photo source: ICRISAT
