As President Muhammadu Buhari, presented the 2019 budget to the joint session of the National Assembly, the Nigerian Smallholder Women Farmers has called for inclusiveness and participation of four women farmer’s in the budget planning process especially in the area of agriculture.
The women farmers in a charter of demands presented by ActionAid recently in Abuja also called for easy access to credit at single digit interest rate should be provided for smallholder women farmers, removing conditions that require collateral and guarantor thereby making the credit schemes gender friendly.
It said the ongoing Anchor Borrowers Scheme should be reviewed and property monitored to enforce single digit interest rate for smallholder women farmers.
As part of their demands, the women farmers requested that there should be recruitment of more female extension workers for improved and modern farm practices just as the results of researches should be simplified for them.
“Correspondingly, there should be provision of gender friendly farming implements and inputs, capacity building on new climate change mitigation methods with the ratio of 60/40 in favour of women.
“Government should ensure security by silencing the guns and make provision for trauma healing programmes for women farmers in crises affected areas. Furthermore, government should provided smallholder women farmers with adequate security against the likes of Book Haram and Niger Delta militants and out an end to the problem of herdsmen and farmers conflicts.
“Nigeria government should develop smallholder women farmer friendly and sustainable meteorological information system to support climate resilient and sustainable Agriculture (CRSA) practices. Provide silos, dryers and other facilities to control post-harvest losses for smallholder women farmers,” the charter stated.
The women charter further requested for processing and packaging equipment and facilities should be provided for smallholder women farmers, while the multiple taxation problem faced by the women farmers on marketing their produce should be addressed.
They said the government should ease the process of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) registration for marketing of smallholder women farmers produce where it is required, and that access to market through guaranteed minimum prices to avoid post-harvest losses and increased incomes.
They also mentioned the need for the review of the land tenure system to enable women farmers to own and control land, review customary land laws for women to inherit land for sustainability, allocate land to smallholder women farmers’ cooperatives.
