For young men and women, finding opportunities in the tough economic climate is a challenge.
Mrs Eka Esu (not real name), a farmer, in the South had a nasty experience.
She has been trying to access a piece of land to boost her meagre crop output. But it has been easy for her because she is a woman. In her part of the country, is tradition forbids her from owning land.
All over the country, attitude to land ownership makes it difficult for women to access land. Most people with vast acres of land are men; there are hardly any woman who own land. The village land ownership procedure gives men the upper hand. Most women, who have access to land, do so through male relatives. The single ladies, widows and divorcees are often “bullied” by their male relatives.
Presenting a paper titled: Gender inclusion and youth empowerment for agricultural transformation in Nigeria, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Representative in Nigeria, Dr Louise Setshwaelo, said securing women’s land and property rights are crucial to alleviating poverty and improving food security.
According to her, women make up 65 per cent of Nigeria’s population who live below poverty line.
She added that women provide over 50 per cent of the agricultural labour.
As producers, Mrs Setshwaelo said women have weak property and contractual rights to land, water, forests and other natural resources.
She said gender gaps in rights to land have negative consequences for household food security and nutrition, contribute to differences in productivity between male and female farmers, and it is a major cause for poverty among female producers.
On the youth, she said the young labour force (15 -35 years) presents an untapped resource and opportunity that if properly harnessed, can move the agriculture sector forward.
She said: “About 69 per cent of this young labour force resides in the rural areas where unemployment is close 26 per cent according to 2011 statistics.”
For her, securing decent and productive employment for millions of young people in rural areas isn’t just important, it’s indispensable.
She said rural youths have enormous potential as “engines of development,” but their potential can be unleashed only if they find attractive opportunities for a decent livelihood in agriculture.
She reiterated the fundamental challenge at hand: how to keep young people in rural areas and make careers in agriculture and other rural industries attractive to them.
Therefore, Mrs Setshwaelo said a lot of work had to be done, as unemployment and underemployment are among the main barriers to development. Not only does the exclusion of young people from the labour force perpetuate poverty, it breaks social cohesion, adding that it can be associated with higher levels of crime and violence among idle youths.
According to her, a decent and productive job not only contributes to attaining fundamental individual and family well-being, but also spills over, contributing to society’s broader objectives, such as poverty reduction, economy-wide productivity growth and social cohesion.
She said millions of productive jobs in the sector need to be created to include youths who are expected to join the labour market yearly.
According to her, Nigeria and other African countries have registered high rates of economic growth in recent years, but this has not translated into new jobs.
She said FAO was ready to partner with the government to promote decent and productive work for youths living in rural areas.
According to her, boosting employment creation and enterprise development in the agric sector calls for support to production based on local resources, access to land, funding, materials and, and technical/legal support for self-employment and local enterprise development.
A rural sociology expert, Prof Janice Olawoye said much of food security depends on women realising their untapped potential.
According to her, rural women are an important part of this, not just as farmers, but also in processing and preparing food, and local markets.
Mrs Olawoye said redressing the gender gap in assets is key to improving agricultural productivity.
She said policies and programmes that strengthen women’s assets are likely to have long-term effects because they not only increase women’s ability to adopt improved technologies or engage in more remunerative livelihood strategies, but also contribute to women’s empowerment in the household and the community.
According to Mrs Olawoye, changing attitudes and culture at village levels is difficult, but the formation of a women’s group provides an opportunity for women to bond socially and help each other in times of difficulty and also to make their voices and concerns heard. Instead of being isolated at home, the women now have a view of the world that extends beyond their village.
She urged the government to support microfinance institutes to make loans available to poor women
She said the government should improve on women’s access to resources, their status and rights.
She said the land tenure continues to shut women out of land ownership. Despite strong laws prohibiting the practice, women farmers still face discrimination.
Traditionally, ownership of land is granted only to men. This means that a married or divorced woman, a widow or single woman heading a household has no effective independent rights to land.
The Acting Executive Director, ARMTI, Dr Comfort Jolayemi, expressed concern over increasing the number of youths roaming the streets for jobs.
According to her, youth unemployment poses a major threat to the economy and will lead to crime if it is not tackled.
She said there is ‘an urgent need to address long-simmering economic problems’, such as long-term unemployment.
According to her, “People, particularly the youth, need to be productively employed, or we will witness rising crime rates, stagnating economies and the deterioration of the social fabric”.
She said no solution to hunger and rural poverty can be found without providing secure and gainful employment to young people, whether on farm, off-farm.
Dr Jolayemi said the lecture is one of institute’s ways of contributing to enhance better and effective management of agriculture and rural development.
She said these are tough times for youths searching for jobs, as about 70 per cent are said to be unemployed even after obtaining relevant qualifications.
“We are all living witnesses to how youths roam the streets in search of what to do to survive.The recent recruitment of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) is a case in print.”
According to her, the frustration of unemployment has led many youths into various vices that threaten peace and development.
One way of addressing this, she said, was getting youths to acquire and develop practical skills and knowledge to make them employable or self-reliant.
She said ARMTI had taken the responsibility to train produce youths for agricultural development.
A key requirement for any escape from poverty and hunger, she stressed, is access to productive resources.
For the women, she said, land and financial resources are of importance. However, technology, seeds and fertiliser, livestock and fisheries, irrigation, marketing opportunities, and off-farm employment are also essential, she added.
