As Nigeria grapples with the food shortage across the country, it is now time to re-think the pivotal role of women in promoting food sustainability in Nigeria. Women are natural beings with an innate potential to conceive, deliver, and nurture. This potential is not restrictive to the biological cycle of life but it extends to all spheres of life including political, social, and economic life. In almost all communities in Nigeria, women constitute a major percentage of active farmers.
Women in rural communities have been able to combine strength, zeal, and dexterity in the production of farm inputs that contribute to the survival and sustainability of the Homefront. Most times the women generate income from the produce of their farms by actively engaging in market days trading activities. It is however worrisome that despite the huge population of women farmers in Nigeria, their impact on the economic sustainability of Nigeria through food production is yet to be felt. A lot of factors have contributed to stifling the potential of women in sustainable food production in Nigeria. Some of those factors are both social, cultural, economic, and political. In specific terms, the land ownership system in Nigeria does not really favor the female gender, as most families bequeath the inheritance of landed property to males rather than women.
As a result of this most women are given portions of land to farm out of benevolent gestures other than as a right of ownership. This scenario has limited women farmers to become just subsistent farmers. Other factors limiting women farmers in Nigeria can also be traced to a lack of support from the government. Women have limited access to resources compared to their male folks and this makes it difficult for them to compete in the Agribusiness economy.
The lack of resources serves as a limitation to accessing modern farm tools that would enable them go into large-scale production, where-as these tools can be made easily available through loans to their male counterparts. There is also a dearth of knowledge on large-scale farming amongst women farmers and this has restrained them to subsistent farming. Another inhibiting factor is the cultural limitations that confine women with reproductive and domestic roles. This is even worse when there is lack of support from the home front to balance the economic outputs of women vis-à-vis their reproductive functions coupled with their domestic responsibilities. This calls for serious attention.
To address some of the limitations highlighted above, there is need to review the provision of some existing policies that support women’s contribution to food sustainability. The national policy on Agriculture aims at attaining self-sustainable growth in all the sub-sectors of agriculture and the structural transformation necessary for the overall socio-economic development of the country as well as the improvement in the quality of life of Nigerians. To achieve this policy the female gender must be strategically empowered to contribute to food sustainability in Nigeria. This is also in line with the goal of the national policy on Gender in Agriculture. The agriculture gender policy is to promote and ensure the adoption of gender-sensitive and responsive approaches towards engendering plans and programmes in such a way that men and women have access to and control of productive resources and facilities to bridge gender gaps. The policy document will enhance the platform to build an agri-business ecosystem to meet both domestic and foreign demands to achieve food security and accelerated development.
There is no other better time to implement these policies than now! Therefore, in line with the strategies contained in these policies, the government should take the following practical steps. First and foremost, it should collaborate with stakeholders to identify the gender limiting factors restraining women from participating in large-scale farming and set up a mechanism to mainstream gender equality in Agri-business. Secondly, through an inter-sectoral collaboration, the government should allocate resources across sectors that would render support to women in agriculture. Thirdly, there is need to implement gender-sensitive laws, policies, and regulations as well as build the capacity of stakeholders to abide by the guiding principles that provide for equitable access to women farmers.
Fourthly, for women to be involved in large-scale production and commercial agriculture, women farmers should be granted subsidies on agricultural products. In essence, modern farming tools for mechanized farming should be provided at subsidized rates to women farmers. Fifthly, the federal and state governments should provide soft loans with low interest rates and favorable re-payment plans to women in agriculture this would enable them get easy access to resources
Finally, to achieve the above, women farmers association should be mainstreamed in every policy decisions of the government, they should be given the opportunity to contribute to government policies, actions, and implementations. All these and more would contribute immensely to achieve food sustainability in Nigeria
Victor Emejuiwe
Monitoring & Evaluation /Strategic Communication Manager
Writes from Centre for Social Justice, Abuja
08068262366
