Small holder women farmers in Nigeria have asked government to solve problems limiting their effective participation in agriculture.
Lara Afolayan reports that Women are more involved in agriculture than men in Nigeria.
Data shows they constitute between sixty to eighty percent of the country’s agriculture labour force.
But their access to credits, inputs,technology,and even crop insurance is much lower than men.
This explains why poverty levels among female agriculture workers is sixty seven percent.
The civil society has now initiated a movement for better inclusion of women farmers in Nigeria’s agriculture and food security space.
An assessment of support for smallholder women farmers in parts of Nigeria has now been carried out. The scorecard shows these women need greater government assistance.
The women themselves do not agree less.
The women are hoping better assistance from government will help amplify their roles in the agriculture sector’s policy making process.
This will be in tandem with the 2014 provisions of the Malabo declaration
