Insecurity among other issues has increased patterns of discrimination against women, especially small-scale women farmers in major communities around the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). This, in a way, has exposed them to heightened risks of violations of their human rights and marginalisation for their economic survival. ADEOLA AKINBOBOLA writes.
Small-scale women farmers play a significant role in Nigeria’s agricultural sector; they make up 70 per cent of the workforce and produce 60 per cent of the food Nigerians consume.
In January, the UN estimated that more than 25 million people in Nigeria could face food insecurity this year, a 47 per cent increase from the 17 million people who were already at risk of going hungry mainly due to the ongoing insecurity, protracted conflicts, and the projected rise in food prices.
Currently, Nigeria is battling with different forms of insecurity as herder’s problem is the most prominent for farmers. These has caused a form of marginalization on the women and it is making them less equal, unstable and less enjoyable place for these women farmers.
Across swathes of the country including communities in the FCT, women who manage to own land have been forced in recent times to abandon them over safety concerns that led to food shortages and unprecedented food inflation in the country.
In an interview with a woman farmer at Anguwar Hausawa community in Gwagwalada area council, FCT, Madam Comfort Sunday raised the alarm that she has faced a lot security issues in her farm land and these has stopped her from selling her farm produce for months.
While narrating her ordeal in pidgin English to this reporter, she said: “My husband lost his job since 2020 due to the Covid-19 and since then, I have been the one assisting him with the responsibilities at home. It is what I sell from my farm land that we use to survive with my 5 children.
“Early this year, I travelled to Nasarawa to purchase cassava stems for cultivation and after cultivating I left the crop to grow and refused to harvest waiting for the rain to fall on them before I harvest. Presently, the herders have vandalised the farm and even uprooted the cassava from the ground.
What’s left on the farm can’t even make half of what I have invested. I have invested over N50,000,” she lamented.
Madam Comfort lamented that the deadly herders and other criminals have attacked and killed thousands of farmers. While the pastoralists fight for land to graze cattle, kidnappers make a fortune abducting farmers and other residents.
Harvest before and after the insecurity
Another small scale farmer in Baban Kurmi community in Kuje Area Council, Ishaku Dorcas explained that before the insecurity crisis, she was able to harvest 30 to 50 (100kg) bags of rice and 20 to 40 bags of groundnut and millet annually. Now, she is not able to access land due to insecurity in the area.
“Leasing land in the city centre is very expensive. In my community, you can rent a big piece of land (one hectare) for N10,000. But here, a piece of land of N20,000 is very small,” she said.
Dorcas said she will no longer visit the farm after some farmers were killed on their farms. According to her, herders threaten farmers on their farms regularly, which sometimes leads to loss of lives.
She further said “I was on the farm sometime last month, and the herders entered my farm, they asked me to choose between my crops and my life. I watched their cows consume the entire crops. I was happy they didn’t hurt me,” she said.
Losing of crops
Considering the two events, she said she has lost crops worth over N150,000 and she will not visit her farm until the government steps in to protect farmers, especially women who do not have the ability to defend themselves.
“We don’t have the weapon and power to defend ourselves in the farm when these bad people come to attack us. We are pleading on the Federal Government under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to come to our aide and help us find a lasting solution to these insecurity challenges because farming is what we use to train our children and take care of the family,” she said.
Women contribute more through agriculture
Findings from these communities further revealed that not only are women bearing the child rearing and household chores, in majority of rural households, these women also provide for their families through contributions to agriculture, fisheries and raising livestock. That is, they are not only performing the vast majority of unpaid work, they are contributing to the paid work too.
Also, in Agwai community of Kuje Area Council, a woman farmer, Madam Christiana Gui cited an example that on different occasions where we will be in the field farming, armed groups have attacked and kidnapped farmers who are their friends and brothers, requesting ransom most times it’s an amount no villager can afford.
In her words: “They have raped some of our women farmers, killed and stolen our farm produce, leaving us helpless and with nothing to take home. The hunger and starvation most of us suffer in this community are because herders deprive us of accessing the farmlands, and even when we risk our lives in our fields, they steal everything and allow us to starve,” she said.
Madam Gui said women are also usually the primary caretakers for children and the elderly, and in times of crisis, they are disproportionately pushed out of employment and forced to stay at home. Without sufficient government support, they are often left to struggle alone in increasingly dire conditions.
Poor access to resources, services and information
She further lamented that these difficulties are particularly challenging for rural women, who face additional hurdles on their way to financial independence and stability.
When crisis hits, rural women are hit the hardest, usually due to poor access to resources, services and information, the heavy burden of unpaid care and domestic work, and discriminatory traditional social norms.
The current cost of living crisis is affecting these women farmers the hardest, with persistent pay inequality and undervalued work being the main reasons behind the increased financial load they have to shoulder.
Also, the growth in small scale agriculture is 2 to 4 times more effective at reducing hunger and poverty that any other sector and women farmers are playing a central role which calls on the need for the Federal Government to break barriers that are holding back these women farmers and preventing them from accessing the critical inputs and security they need.
This investigation is for the GENDER, The Agenda project of Gender Strategy Advancement International (GSAI) supported by the Wole Soyinka Center for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ), and the MacArthur Foundation.