We know challenges facing us

Some women farmers have met to network and discuss some challenges facing them towards seeking opportunities and charting a way forward, at the National Youth in Agricultural convention.

The event was put together by the Nigerian Women for Agricultural Progressive and Development Initiative (NWAPDI), to encourage young Nigerian farmers practising agriculture.

The National Coordinator of NWAPDI, Omolara Svensson said the convention was designed to bring opportunities to the youth in the agriculture sector for sustainability.

“The agricultural sector is actually the only sector where you are guaranteed a sustainable and decent source of income for a lifetime, from cash crops farming to processing, commodity export to livestock, the list is endless”, Svensson said.

Female farmers in the country are struggling for survival in the midst of their male counterparts, who have greater advantage over them. Meanwhile, the Chairman, Edo State Rice Farmers Association, Mrs. Bola Ijeoma has said that “In some areas, land is not given to women; it is the men that take the land and give to the women”.

She said as a result of the development, women have to hire land for farming, which affects their expansion and yields.

“As women, we have limited access to training and workshops, which are more open to men and this contribute to low knowledge of the farming processes on the part of the female farmers”, she added.

She informed that due to lack of training, many female farmers are not abreast with the climate change, which is now becoming a challenge because the normal period for planting is changing and if one does not take notice of it and plant with the trend, he or she may end up losing crops.

She noted that the effect of house chores on women, which they combine with farming, is always challenging for them, saying “Let me use myself as a case study, I have many responsibilities.

I have to take care of the home, husband, children, and household, and this make it difficult for us the women to manage farm work”.

“Government is giving us farmers some inputs, but the middle men are the problem because they always divert the items.

I am buying a 50kg bag of hybrid rice for planting at the cost of N45,000 and it wouldn’t be enough for an acre; you can imagine that.

Also, getting labour to work on farms is somehow difficult, but I employed a standby person, who I am paying salary.

I contract other boys to work with him when the work load is too much. On a daily basis, I pay a labourer N3,500, but if you engage them for an acre, it is N22,000 and you will also provide them food for the period of clearing”, she lamented.

Ijeoma appealed to the government to make mechanisation available to women, who she said, are finding it difficult to hire tractors.

She disclosed that the productive level is good, but sometimes, birds and lack of security affect high yields. “We hire boys to drive birds from our farms.

If I can’t get someone to drive the bird, I use net to cover the rice against the birds”, she added. Ijeoma lamented further that female farmers are not given special consideration, as they have to do everything on their own. “As a female farmer, I have not received inputs specifically meant for female farmers. This also applies to other women farmers.

We are supposed to be given special consideration because of the challenges we face, but that is not there. We are not also considered in accessing loan.

If women farmers get a little push, it will help them to boost production”, she revealed.