Small-scale Women Farmers Organization in Nigeria (SWOFON) has called on government at various levels to assist women farmers in terms of capacity building, processing machine among others, as well as the implementation of gender policy enhancement.
National President for SWOFON, Mary Afan, and other women farmers disclosed this while addressing journalists as they reacted to a study recently conducted through the Value Addition Biennial Review Toolkit (VABKIT), which reflected the realities of smallholder women farmers across the country.
According to VABKIT, 18 percent of smallholder female farmers have access to processing facilities, 16.60 percent to storage facilities, 13.50 percent to off-takers/market access, 9.60 percent to transportation, and 42.30 percent to training.
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It reveals that only 4.77 percent of smallholder female farmers have access to Agricultural Insurance, 5.26 percent have access to Extension Services, 59 percent have access to land, 29.77 percent have control, and only 11.23 percent are involved in land governance discussions.
The SWOFON President explained that there is no commitment to show that the government is ready to boost agriculture, which is the mainstay of the economy, adding that even whatever they are allocating, there is little or nothing that goes to women.
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“Most of the time, they sit down to plan on our behalf, and that is why they don’t really understand what we want. We cannot do anything in terms of achieving food security unless we increase the budgetary allocation. Afan added.
Also, Abimbola Francis, General Secretary of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Lagos State chapter, called on the government at the various levels to make available processing hubs for women farmers in their various communities.
