Six small-scale farmers received Awards of Excellence at the “Making Food Markets GROW” awards ceremony jointly organised by Oxfam and Volunteer Service Organisation (VSO), two international NGOs, on Tuesday in Abuja.

Our correspondent reports that the farmers were selected from a list of 65 nominees.

Mrs Susanna Godwin, emerged the winner in the “Female Food Hero Award” category while Mrs Briskila Jerome and Mrs Talatu Rohana, were placed second and third respectively.

In addition plaques, three women are to receive support services worth N150,000, N100,000 and N50,000 respectively, to ensure the sustainability and growth of businesses.

In the `Individual’ category of the award, Malam Baba Kaita, a fish farmer from Kaduna, emerged the winner with Shettima Sani and Seth Dakyen as runners up. They also received the same prizes as the women.

Hajia Zainab Maina, the Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, in her speech, commended Oxfam and VSO for celebrating the farmers, stressing that such gesture would inspire the winners and encourage other farmers to work harder.

She specifically appeciated the initiative to encourage women in agriculture, describing it as “laudable”.

Maina, who was represented by Mrs Elizabeth Emuren, the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, stressed the need for more infrastructural investment in the rural areas to encourage and create opportunities for young people to engage in agriculture.

She said that the decision of the government to boost investment in agriculture was predicated on the fact that the sector remained the mainstay of the nation’s economy.

Maina also commended the various interventions by the CBN to ensure farmers’ access to agricultural financing and encourage farming in a sustainable manner.

Responding after receiving the award, Kaita said it was the outcome of an intensive training on fish farming and marketing he received from Oxfam, which had enabled him to achieve increased production and diversification.

“Mine is a success story because through the returns I make on my fish farm, I have invested in another business that is yielding high income and my family is progressing, Kaita said.

He expressed delight that the award came through food production.

“Without food can we have a market; a house without food is not a house; a local government without food is not a local government,” Kaita said.

He challenged all stakeholders in the agricultural sector to emulate the two organisations by working together to achieve a common goal on food and national security and for Nigeria to be food secure.

Also speaking, Godwin expressed gratitude Oxfam and VSO for the honour and recognition accorded them.

She described the award as a “challenge to work hard, harder and hardest”, noting that it was gratifying that their efforts were being observed and appreciated.

She also said that the ceremony should be a challenge to all Nigerians, adding: “if NGOs can do this what are the rest of Nigerians doing?”

Earlier, in an address of welcome, Mrs Kenna Owoh, the VSO Country Director, said the recognition became imperative because the awardees had shown exemplary and entrepreneurial skills and had contributed to food security programme of the government.

Owoh said that VSO believed that for women to contribute to and benefit from rural development, their economic empowerment must be considered alongside their political empowerment.

Mrs Kenna Owoh, the country director of an international NGO Volunteer Services Organisation (VSO) has stressed the need for rural women in developing countries to be economically empowered to attain political power.

She said that increased voice and influence for rural women would ensure that their needs and interests were reflected in policy formulation, service delivery and resource allocation.

“VSO believes that for women to contribute and benefit from rural development, their economic empowerment must be considered hand-in-hand with their political empowerment.

“In turn, increased income, earnings and access control over resources strengthens women’s means and authority to engage in decision making process.”

Owoh described gender inequality as a key driver of poverty in rural areas, adding that the inequalities were exacerbated by the current economic downturn, climate change and associated challenges of food and fuel insecurity, among others.

The director stressed the need for the authorities to reverse the trend by taking immediate action to ensure that rural women were given stronger voice in the design and delivery of rural policy and services.

In his remarks, Mr Tunde Ojei, the Oxfam Country Director, noted that small-scale farmers produced more than 75 per cent of food consumed in Nigeria and that women farmers constituted 60 per cent of the farmers.

Ojei observed that despite the importance of women in food production, rural women were “systematically” denied the resources and freedom of action to meet their basic needs.

He expressed confidence that hunger and poverty would end when women were fully empowered to build their capacity as the key change agent in the development of agriculture.

“Supporting women is fundamental to ending poverty and achieving peace in a sustainable manner,” Ojei said.

The winners will compete with other West African counterparts at the regional competition scheduled to hold in Abuja in June with a handsome 2,500-dollar prize at stake.