The National President, Smallholder Women Farmers Organisation in Nigeria (SWOFON), Mrs Mary Afan, has called for inclusion of members in budgeting processes and implementation towards ensuring food production and security.
They made the call yesterday at a Public Dialogue on Gender- Responsive Agriculture Policy, an event organised in partnership with the International Budget Partnership in Abuja.
According to her, 75% of farmers in Nigeria are women, with most of them still using obsolete equipment and their needs not included in the national agriculture budget.
Afan said the number of those who depended on Nigerian farmers for food has increased, saying the need to mechanise the farms has become imperative.
She explained that the socio-economic effects of insecurity and flooding across the country have led to a reduction in crop yield and income for women farmers.
“Nigeria is signatory to the Maputo Declaration, and the Maputo Declaration says 10% of every country’s budget should go to the agriculture sector to achieve a six per cent annual growth.
“Over the years, the budget allocation is so slow, today; we are interacting with critical stakeholders to increase and support smallholder women farmers, who make up about 80% of the workforce in the farm.
“We are also calling on stakeholders, policymakers, and the Nigerian government to come up with a national agenda on agriculture so that all our challenges will be met.”
Country Manager, International Budget Partnership (IBP), Austin Ndiokwelu, said agriculture is responsible for roughly a quarter of the gross domestic product (GDP), the second-highest contributor in the country.
He said although the Nigerian government has reaffirmed commitment to allocating 10% of its annual budget to agriculture, it has not allocated more than 2.2% in recent years.
“Women smallholder farmers especially are overlooked by officials overseeing agricultural policy and decision-making. This is surprising when they make up 70% of the workforce and produce 60% of the food Nigerians consume.
“In just two and a half years, SWOFON, with the support of IBP, secured three critical budgetary changes to strengthen their livelihoods and contributions to the country’s agricultural sector,” he said.
Women smallholder farmers especially are overlooked by officials overseeing agricultural policy and decision-making. This is surprising when they make up 70% of the workforce and produce 60% of the food Nigerians consume.
Ndiokwelu said as a result of data-driven advocacy, Nigeria increased its spending on agriculture by 18.5% and made new federal budget allocations towards the sector.
He added that through the partnership with SWOFON, issues of underdevelopment in agriculture, equitable access to farm inputs were resolved and had encouraged rural economic development and increased food production.
Executive Director, Centre for Social Justice, Eze Onyekpere, said small-scale women farmers constitute 60% of the farming population, and produce about 70% of food consumed nationally.
He said there was a need for an improved budgetary investment for smallholder women farmers, to aid agriculture value chains.
“All plans and policies are based on budget and there are several plans and policies which have shown the need for investment for small-scale medium farmers.”
He said it is critical that funds appropriated for smallholder women farmers got to them directly and not diverted into wrong hands. (NAN)
