ENE OSANG writes on the plight of women farmers in Nigeria, as they lament the huge gender gap existing within the agricultural sector particularly, the right to ownership of land.
Maryam Buari a female farmer and the 2014/2015 Oxfam Female Food Hero while speaking at the event to commemorate the International Women’s Day (IWD) and launching of the Kilimanjaro Initiative organized by the Action Aid, Oxfam and the Small Scale Women Farmers Organization (SWOFON), decried the difficulties encountered by women farmers when it comes to land ownership in the country.
Buari emphasized the need for the Nigerian constitution to consider making it a law that women too own lands, saying that is the principal challenge they face.
“Land is a principal factor to plant whatever crop women have interest in but it is not available for us due to tradition and lack of money in instances where we want to buy one. If the advocacy for this is considered in our constitution women can also inherit land from family and community as well but this is not so.
She however expressed hope that just like women are gaining grounds in politics today, land ownership by women will also be part of communal life in the country.
Another female farmer and the 2015/2016 Oxfam Female Food Hero Dorcas Azenda, dislikes the description of women as small scale farmers, saying they can cultivate big farms too if not for the challenge of land ownership.
“If there is provision for women to rightfully own lands, you know when we set our minds to achieve something we work towards achieving it. We can become big scale farmers too and contribute our quota to nation building if we can own lands,” she stressed.
“Take for instance, before my father died last year I had access to his farm land where I could plant my own crops. In that land he planted so many oranges I could just pluck and sell but upon his death all that have stopped. I can’t even go into the land again because it has been given to my elder brother who is my step brother,” she lamented
Delivering a keynote address at the event, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Audu Ogbe, assured of addressing the unequal gender power relations existing in the agricultural sector, promising to achieve gender parity in line with the goal no.5 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
Represented by the Head of Gender in the ministry Mrs. Ifeoma Anyanwu, Ogbe described women as gate keepers of food security, saying they represent an important proportion of the agricultural labour force, while regretting that women’s access base to agricultural assets are low, he said the ministry will evolve immediate strategies at integrating gender perspectives to address inequalities in the sector.
“As part of the ministry’s strategy to ensure gender parity, institutional framework has been put in place to mainstream gender with the appointment of a gender specialist heading the gender desk while gender desk officers of departments/agencies and state Directors offices have been appointed, draft agricultural gender policy and instrument for generating sex disaggregated data have been produced,” he said.
According to the Minister, it is pertinent to address challenges faced by women to create jobs, wealth, give voices to rural women to enhance food security and accelerate development, adding that the theme of this year’s celebration “pledge to gender parity” is apt given the degree of gender disparity in the agricultural sector.
“The Kilimanjaro initiative which is born out of the recognition and the need to raise women’s voice, participation in decision making especially on matters relating to land and national resources management, official launch of the kilimanjaro movement 2016 in Nigeria, increased public finance for agriculture and unpaid care work, engage decision makers and other relevant statekholders, build a strong base for support towards the kilimanjaro movement and launch of Oxfam research reports on women’s right is indeed a welcome development.
The Deputy Country Director Action Aid Nigeria Ifeoma Charles-Monwuba, said the Kilimanjaro initiative was born out of the recognition and need to amplify women’s voice and participation in decision making, especially on matters relating to land and natural resource management in Africa.
Recalling the achievements and plight of women commemorated annually on March 8th, she noted that this year’s event provides an opportunity to draw attention to the abysmal progress towards gender parity on all fronts but, especially on the small holder women farmers and the challenges they face while feeding Nigeria.
“Women in Nigeria constitute 60 to 80 per cent of the agricultural labour force in the country. However, their access to agricultural related services of credit, inputs, training and advice, technology, crop insurance, etc is much lower than men’s.
She noted that 55% of female-headed households are landless and a further 29% own less than one hectare. Women are the most voiceless in influencing agricultural policies and land policies in spite of their being the primary actors in Nigerian agriculture sector.
“We are organizing this event to officially Launch Kilimanjaro Initiative 2016 in Nigeria, amplify the voices of rural women and profile women Land Rights, increased Public Finance for Agriculture and Unpaid Care Work as public issues that decision makers and other relevant stakeholders should engage with and resolve.
“The current government is also planning a land reform exercise and we all need to engage with this process in collaboration with other partners. Therefore, this event further presents an opportunity for us all to start generating the issues for the position paper to input into the land reform when it comes on stream and also that will be presented by representatives of the Nigerian women that will be going to the October meeting in Arusha, Tanzania,” she said.
The Head of Programme Oxfam Nigeria Mr. Constant Tchona represented by the Livelihood and Private Sector Manager Dr. William Mafwalal, in his remarks said the IWD celebration is an opportunity to stress the crucial role of women to achieve sustainable development goals.
He stated that the GROW campaign which focuses on poverty alleviation and zero hunger, is another way of committing towards women emancipation and empowerment.
“Women represent more than 60% of the agricultural labour force in sub-Saharan Africa. They account for 60 to 80% of food production on the continent; 80 to 90% in food processing, storage and transportation as well as hoeing and weeding.
“Despite these significant contributions, only 15% of women farmers own their farmland, while women herders who manage production and play an increased role in small ruminants breeding and poultry farming have very little or no knowledge on how to secure protection of their breeding pasture,” he said.
He reemphasized that rural women are a powerful driver for agricultural development yet, their potential is hampered by the disparities between men and women farmers.
“We believe in Oxfam and research has shown that if women farmers had the same factors of production and opportunities as their male counterparts in the world, they would be able to increase their crop yields by 20 to 30% thus helping prevent millions of people from starving.
“In Nigeria and other West African countries, women still face three major challenges; equity in and secure access to land, safety of operating and investment by women and the protection and preservation of women’s land rights. They are the first victims of land and related natural resources grabbing. All these and more together threaten the capacity of communities to meet the challenges of sustainable agricultural and food systems today and tomorrow,” he added.
To this end, he called for the Land Use Act to be reformed, saying this will make communities take ownership of their land and advocate against cultural barriers to women’s rights to land and inheritance in Nigeria.