United Kingdom-based charity, Oxfam Nigeria, said supporting female growers will empower them to change their lives and members of their communities.
Speaking in Lagos, Gender Officer in charge of the campaign in Nigeria, Boyowa Roberts, said it was the key to lifting women farmers who face gross inequalities, producing 50 per cent of the food, yet owning few per cent of legally titled land.
She said women faced unequal access to credit and agricultural inputs such as seeds and fertiliser, which lowers their yields relative to men. Roberts said with access to resources, rural women can drive positive change in their communities.
She said women farmers need to have the same access as men to resources and inputs for agricultural productivity to rise sharply.
Reversing the inequities facing rural women, she noted, would break cycles of poverty and hunger. For this reason, she said the group is focusing on rural women, saying they hold the key to ensuring food and nutrition security. She said Oxfam Nigeria is empowering women through its partners to have access to a credit system that provides small loans.
She said the organisation would make public the list of female food heroes in Nigeria, who have excelled in agriculture and provided jobs.
“Oxfam wants to celebrate and recognise the powerful voice that women can have in Nigeria in changing our food system. We want to share the stories of women we know who are changing the injustices of the food system and challenging the inequities of the rights of women – these are our Female Food Heroes,” she said.
Roberts noted that the award aims at celebrating small scale women farmers, adding that Oxfam is collaborating with the Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development to ensure the credibility of the nomination process for the award.
She said a team would be set up to determine farmers that are registered with the Ministries and other cooperatives under the Association of Small Scale Agro Producers in Nigeria.
Boyowa further said on determining the criteria for nomination, the public would nominate female farmers by through either snail mail or via Oxfam’s mail portal.
“It could be an independent nomination or by someone who thinks a female farmer is doing very well in the community, but the team will cross check and evaluate most of the entries made,” she said.
Economic Justice Campaign Manager, Horn East and Central Africa Oxfam International, Marc Wegerif, bemoaned the situation among smallholder women farmers, insisting that there was need for extension and training services targeting smallholder women farmers in order to improve their productivity.
He emphasised that these programmes must be complemented with improved access to inputs and markets if they are to have a lasting impact on farmers’ livelihoods.
With the right support, Wegerif said smallholder women farmers can identify their needs, package relevant messages and effectively communicate them to policy makers.
Media Officer for Oxfam, Safiya Akau, said there is need to establish local-level dialogue platforms that capture the voice of women farmers in the process of policy formulation and implementation.
She revealed that as part of this effort, the National Female Food Hero Award, which is celebrated annually by the organisation has been slated for October 15, this year – a date which coincides with the International Rural Women’s Day celebration.
Mrs. Medinato Oyinloye Bolatito, a farmer from Oyo Local Government Area of Oyo State, seized the opportunity to commend Oxfam for the empowerment so far provided to small scale farmers.
“Oxfam has taken issues bothering us to the Agricultural Committee of our State House of Assembly for discussion,” she said.
Noting that challenges still exist for small scale farmers, she called on Nigerians to help female farmers.
