Facilitating women farmers easy access to and control over farmlands has been identified as germane in ensuring food security and curbing the high inflation rate in Nigeria.
This was the position of stakeholders who took part in an agricultural town hall on Thursday in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital.
The event was tagged: “Town hall meeting on increased access and control over land among Smallholder women farmers and young people in Ebonyi State.”
It was organised by a Civil Society Organisation, Participatory Development Alternatives, in collaboration with Smallholder Women Farmers Organisation of Nigeria, supported by ActionAid-Nigeria.
During the interactive session, stakeholders, including traditional rulers, representatives of relevant government Ministries, Departments, and Agencies; civil society organisations, among others, identified cultural barriers and lack of funds as major factors impeding women’s access to and ownership of land.
They advocated for laws from the government to empower women to own and control lands in their families of birth and marriage.
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Two traditional rulers who spoke to newsmen: Patrick Oko-Agha and Chinedu Chibueze Agbo from Afikpo and Ohaukwu local government areas respectively, agreed that empowering women farmers with land would boost food production as most women are better managers than men.
Oko-Agha noted that the issue of women’s mobility through marriage was part of the reason why it appears that women don’t own land in his community.
He pledged to go back to his domain to project the advocacy, starting from his cabinet through intercessory and other meetings in his kingdom.
Agbo added: “In my own opinion, I am suggesting to the government to make a law that will empower women to access, own and have control over land in both their families of birth and marriage.”
The SWOFON Coordinator, Ebonyi State, Andrina Okwor, said their major request to the government was to allocate permanently agricultural lands to SWOFON.
Okwor noted that increasing women’s access to farmlands and other agricultural facilities would boost food production as well as enhance the economy.
A renowned woman farmer and a member of the organisation, Nnenna Nkama, insisted that it is only when the federal and state governments deliberately include smallholder women farmers in their overall agricultural policies and programmes can the country achieve the much desired food security, stressing that smallholder women constitute the greatest percentage of farmers in Nigeria.
Speaking on behalf of the government, the Senior Special Assistant to the Ebonyi State Governor on Agriculture, Hon. Anthony Nwegede, highlighted some of the things the present administration has done to boost agriculture, including procurement of over 15 tractors, payment of IFAD counterpart funding, agricultural training and grants to youths, as well as distribution of fertilizers and other inputs to farmers.
Nwegede emphasised that all the lands are owned by the government, adding: “In this state, there is a committee in charge of land recovery and allocation.
“The smallholder women farmers should take the advantage, apply and follow the procedure to secure land for their agricultural activities without any segregation.”
Others who spoke to newsmen, including Prince Benjamin Igboke, Head of Administration in the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, who represented the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, and a woman farmer and CSO representative, Fortuna Okeh, observed that agriculture is the epicentre of economic development.
They justified the women’s quest for land and other facilities as timely and advised them to intensify advocacy to the three tiers of government for access to land, knowing that every land belong to the government.
While Igboke pledged the Ministry’s readiness to employ its supervisory role towards ensuring that SWOFON’s requests are granted at the local government and community levels in synergy with traditional rulers, Okeh expressed optimism that with the commitment of all stakeholders present at the meeting, the story will change for the good of the women farmers.
Meanwhile, the Chair of the anchor organisation, Participatory Development Alternatives, Mark Abani, in an interview noted that access to land for smallholder women farmers has remained one of the persistent issues that come up in the course of its activities.
He described the issue as both a national and a traditional problem.
Abani, a renowned farmer and agriculture consultant, regretted that in spite of court judgements, including that of the Supreme Court, affirming women’s right to inheritance and ownership of lands, the segregatory tradition still remains.
He noted that it can only be through agriculture and food production that the current government in the country be able to reduce headline inflation from 34 percent, which it currently is, to 15 percent.
He added: “But it is only by continued advocacy and by getting younger and more people involved in understanding the issues and stark reality that if we don’t make land available to women who are primary farmers to farm, this objective may not be achieved.
“So, what we are trying to do is to have a public conversation whereby traditional rulers are meant to understand the importance, or at least, the need for women to have access to land, and see how they can influence that.
“Government stakeholders to also take on board the fact that we need access to that land for women.
“And more importantly, to bring out other issues: it’s not only just sufficient to give land but to give arable lands and be able to leave it for them long enough so that if they invest money to develop it, that they will get their returns.
“Both government and traditional stakeholders need to understand that as economies change, they also have to change their approach.”
Speaking about his organisation, PDA, Abani said it is working with the Ebonyi State Agricultural Development project under the auspices of ActionAid to train women farmers and gain greater access to them.
He added: “Over the last three years, we have been running quite a number of trainings.
“Over 9,000 women a year have been trained in the last two years, and we are training more.”
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