Small-Scale Women Farmers Organisation in Nigeria (SWOFON) has called on the National Assembly (NASS) to as a matter of urgency intervene in the reversal of the existing trend with FCT budget proposal late submission, late consideration, and ascent by the president.
According to SWOFON Secretary, Nnanna Mercy at a press briefing after the 1-day State Level Stakeholders Consultative Meeting on the 2023 FCT Agriculture Budget organized Small-Scale Women Farmers Organization in Nigeria (SWOFON) in partnership with ActionAid Nigeria (AAN) and Federal Capital Territory Administration – Agriculture & Rural Development Secretariat (FCT-ARDS), under the Scaling Up Public Investments in Agriculture (SUPIA) project said FCT does not also have up–to–date and realistic gender-disaggregated data of all farmers within the FCT.
She said the Annual less than 1% appropriation to “Women in Agriculture” as a percent of total appropriation to the agriculture sector in FCT coupled with the current drop in the allocation to the budget line only demonstrates the poor and inadequate consideration for the concern of women in agriculture in FCT.
According to her, the Annual less than 1% appropriation to “Women in Agriculture” as a percent of total appropriation to the agriculture sector in FCT coupled with the current drop in the allocation to the budget line only demonstrates the poor and inadequate consideration for the concern of women in agriculture in FCT.
According to her, It was observed that FCTA has not been consistency in the improvement of extension agent. While the budget instrument does not provide enough information to assess the increase in the number of extension workers allocation of less than ½% of the total appropriation to agriculture extension services in the last four years is abysmally poor. This is in view of the current poor extension service provision to farmers in FCT mostly Women farmers.
She said “A gender disaggregated statistic of the farming population in FCT is needful. and where it is available it should be put in the public domain for use. For obvious reasons, the initiative will improve advocacy in support of women farmers toward better public investment in agriculture on re and effective allocation and utilization of public resources.
” We call on the FCT administration and the legislature to increase appropriation to the agricultural sector in line with the 10% Malabo/Maputo Declaration toward increased production and agricultural sector contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) this will help to support women participation in agricultural production.
“FCT Bureau of Statistics in collaboration with the FCT management should prioritize the production of gender-disaggregated statistics of FCT farmers to aid proper planning and allocation of resources in the agricultural sector.
“Agriculture is a seasonal and time bound activity, therefore FCTA should release the agricultural farm inputs to smallholder women farmers on time.
” Allocation to agricultural inputs need to be improved to increase food production and livelihood of food producers mostly women .
“FCTA needs to increase number of extension workers mostly women to align with international best practice and for effective extension service delivery to farmers in the Federal Capital Territory.
“The FCT budget should include an allocation to storage and processing facilities and training for vegetables to reduce post-harvest loses and strengthen the role of women in agriculture production and processing.
” We recommend that NAFDAC engage with the smallholder women farmers to provide capacity building and soft landing towards product registration for improved products exports.
