Business
Women Farmers Solicit Assistance To Access Land, Credit
Women farmers in Kogi under the aegis of ‘Women In Agriculture’ (WIA), have called on government and NGOs to assist them in accessing land, credit facilities and technical skills.
Mrs Esther Audu, the President of WIA, Kogi chapter of association, who made the call in Lokoja said the vision of the body was to empower women to engage in sustainable agriculture through capacity building and advocacy for women’s rights, especially to land and food security, adding that women needed support.
She contended that the vast majority of the world’s poor were women; two-third of the world illiterates were female just as the majority of school-age children currently out of school were girls, adding: “Today, HIV/AIDS is becoming a woman’s disease.”
The WIA president, therefore, urged government to strengthen women and other farmers’ cooperative organisations by facilitating their expansion while creating favourable business, legal and social climate for them to thrive.
Earlier, Mr Victor Adejoh, the Project Officer of ActionAid Nigeria, an NGO, said that over 100 small-holder women farmers groups from 11 communities in Kogi, trained and supported by the organisation, had registered with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry as cooperative groups.
Adejoh hinted that of the estimated 925 million hungry people in the world, 70 per cent lived in rural areas, adding that the 2012 World Food Day beamed its light on agricultural cooperatives in view of its capacity to reduce poverty and hunger.
“It is estimated that one billion individuals are members of cooperatives worldwide generating more than 100 million jobs around the world in agriculture, forestry, fishing and livestock, giving themselves better bargaining power.”
The project officer urged farmers to join already existing cooperative groups rather than forming new ones, to enable them to derive maximum benefits and ease administrative problems.
Mrs Elizabeth James, the President, Smallholder Women Farmers Association of Nigeria, said that the association, in a bid to contribute to family growth and development through agriculture, had been constrained by the dearth of farm inputs, processing machines and mobility.