Report Highlights Weak Gender Balance in Agrifood Policies

James Emejo in Abuja

Despite high-level speeches by the government, gender salience on agrifood policies in the country remains generally weak, a new report has shown.

The ‘Women’s Empowerment in Agrifood Governance (WEAGov) Assessment Framework: Pilot Study in Nigeria’ stated that gender attention in the major agriculture sector policy particularly the National Agricultural Technology and Innovation Policy was weak.

The assessment was carried out by researchers at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) including Catherine Ragasa, Jordan Kyle, Anthony Onoja, Anthonia Achike and Stella Adejoh.

Other co-authors are Chinasa Onyenekwe, Gbenga Koledoye, Gloria Ujor and Nkechi Okafor-Nwali.

The study assesses the state of women’s voice and agency in national policymaking in the agrifood sector, noting that though consultations are often conducted during policy formulation, local experts perceived few opportunities for ordinary citizens to provide input into agrifood policy formulation and even more limited opportunities for women to do so.

Speaking at the WEAGov Study Dissemination Workshop and Policy Dialogue in Abuja, the Minister of Budget and Planning, Senator Abubakar Badugu, said the study represented a clarion call for policy changes to empower women in agriculture.

He called for advocacy for the N100 billion Agriculture Fund, as well as leveraging tools such as biometric and GIS mapping to boost women’s inclusion in the sector.

According to him, “Let’s pave the way for more women leaders.  The need for women in agriculture will assist in closing wage gaps between women and men and will ensure a rise in the economy.”

Nonetheless, the report evaluated the extent of women’s leadership in agrifood policy design varied between the public and private sectors and civil society.

“Only three per cent of Nigeria’s parliamentarians are women; however, the share of women leaders in non-governmental entities involved in policy design is significantly higher, at 41 per cent at the time of the survey,” the report noted.

On gender-responsive budgeting, the study pointed out that across multiple measures used, budgetary support for gender goals remained reportedly “very weak”, adding that the National Development Plan (2021–2025), which is the basis for budgetary allocation across sectors, includes general gender goals but has no specific targets on gender equity or women’s empowerment in the agrifood system and no specific budget allotted.

The report, however, indicated some considerations and inclusion of women in Nigeria’s agrifood policy process although several areas need major improvements and urgent attention.

It stated: “Several areas stood out as particularly weak and in need of concrete improvements to secure a meaningful voice for women in agrifood policymaking in the country.

“Ordinary women have very limited opportunities to provide input into policy design and to provide feedback on how policy implementation is working for them in practice.

“Budgetary outlays towards gender targets and efforts to track and monitor those targets are also significantly lacking. The policy evaluation sector overall is quite weak, with little effort to collect or to use gender-disaggregated data on women in the agri-food sector—which necessarily constrains assessment of whether gender targets are being met.

“Finally, and no less urgently, women’s presence in formal leadership in parliament and agrifood cabinet ministries is very low, even compared to peer countries in the region.”

Among other recommendations, the study urged agrifood ministries to create more opportunities for citizens in general and women specifically to provide inputs into policy design through consultative processes, as well as extensively socialise those opportunities to ensure that women can use them.