Women Farmers Lament Alleged Exclusion from Food Policy Formulations

James Emejo in Abuja 

Women farmers under the umbrella of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) have alleged marginalisation in government policy formulation to boost food production in the country.

The National Woman Leader, AFAN, Enitan Onitiri, told journalists at a briefing that despite producing 70 per cent of the food consumed in the country, women farmers are often side-lined in major policy initiatives.

She said with the passion and commitment of women in agriculture and agribusiness in feeding the over 200 million Nigerians, President Bola Tinubu should accord the group due attention and further explore how to deeply engage, collaborate and empower them to achieve the state of emergency declared in the agricultural sector.

Onitiri said the issue of access to land should be holistically addressed including special loan packages for women farmers.

She said: “With our population as women in agricultural business, the level of innovation in farming business, multi-purpose processing machines, if we engage intentionally within the Agro value chain we can create hundreds of thousands of jobs, wealth and foreign exchange and at same time end hunger which is the focal point of Mr. President but we have to be intentional and collaborate.

“The women in AFAN in the whole 36 states of Nigeria and FCT are set to make history through our strategic business partnership with development partners, NGOs, private organizations, government agencies and well meaning individuals to improve food system in Nigeria and the welfare of the women in agriculture through sustainable farming practices that’s climate smart, value/nutritional driven, and can satisfy the want of our people and the demand of international market.

“We have a lot of programmes to empower women across the country in order to drive agriculture and position women where they are supposed to be as far as agribusiness is concerned.”

The AFAN woman leader further called on other women organisations and groups both private and public to collaborate and partner with AFAN in the area of women capacity building in agricultural business, agro export, extension services, agro produce market access, vegetables farming, agro produce processing and packaging, farm machinery and others.

The Head of Women in Agriculture, AFAN, Oyo State Chapter and Special Assistant to the National Woman Leader, AFAN, Svensson Omolara-Abati, said it was time for the president to listen to women farmers.

She said: “We understand agribusiness, agric economics, we do the little we can on our own to train our women.

“Please, Mr. President ask Bank of Agriculture, the Minister of Agriculture, Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) Plc, Central Bank of Nigeria, encourage African Development Bank, AfDB, World Bank, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and others to directly work with All Farmers Association of Nigeria, Women Chapter.

“These are the women that can really turn the agricultural sector into gold. So Mr President work with us the women farmers and as far as you work and listen to us, we all smile.”

The women also called for protection of women farmers as most of them have been dehumanized, therefore it is affecting their productivity to produce food for Nigeria.

They called for collaboration with the Federal Government and agricultural policymakers for sustainable farming practices and improved food security.