Women are involved in all aspects of agriculture, from crop production, forestry, livestock to fish farming and even getting these food products to our plates. They oversee 70% of agricultural labor, 50% of animal husbandry, 60% of food processing activities.
However, with this massive contribution to the agricultural sector which had 20.88% for the nominal GDP, women still have serious challenges for them to thrive. Research shows that if the gender yield gap can be closed, we could feed 130 million people!
Women who are smallholders in rural areas struggle to achieve success at their farming and are held back by the unequal access to the resources available. It is saddening to see that the gender gap still exists in this sector as the needs are ignored by the policy makers, agricultural sector law makers, and even the financial services institutions.
Women who are smallholders in rural areas struggle to achieve success at their farming and are held back by the unequal access to the resources available. It is saddening to see that the gender gap still exists in this sector as the needs are ignored by the policy makers, agricultural sector law makers, and even the financial services institutions.
With the recently approved $1.2 billion dollars loan facility from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) for agricultural mechanization in Nigeria, Mary Afan, President of Small-Scale Women Farmers Organization of Nigeria (SWOFON) states that ‘Normally, when these kinds of allocations are made, the government gives a directive that a certain should go to women. But the conditions attached to these facilities are not the type women farmers can meet. For example, you must have somebody to act as a guarantor, and the person must have property worth a certain amount of money. And then the farmer is required to have a property worth a certain amount of money, too. Women are not inheriting lands. Where do you get the property to act as a guarantee? So, with the conditions attached to these loans, they end up with the big farmers who are able to meet them’.
The woman has to face the financial discrimination where they have to provide a male signatory before they are granted a loan, and that is if at all they are granted. And this also includes the fact that they are restricted from participating in the marketing of some high value crops.
It’s high time we took a solid ground and work towards ensuring there is food on the table and the rightful value is placed on both the agricultural produce and the woman-farmer.
If a synergy between the financially included woman and the woman-farmer who is mostly financially excluded can be established, it will offer a level-playing field for all women to grow, create impact and growth opportunities for the formal women sector, massive expansion and growth for the informal women sector and ultimately stimulate rapid growth in the agricultural sector to ensure food security and eradicate world poverty.
Reference;
Nairametrics.com
Businessday.ng
