‘Rural Women, Reserved Labour Force For National Integration’

Renowned marriage counselor in Rivers State, Ms Deborah Ngozi Titus has described rural women as reserved labour force for national integration and growth.
Speaking on the role of women in nation building, Titus told The Tide, Tuesday, in Okoloma-Afam, in Oyigbo Local Government Area that rural women form majority of the population in the rural areas and are deeply involved in agricultural activities that generate income.
According to her, government should be concerned with the urgency of providing accessible credit facilities for rural women through their cooperative societies to assist them go beyond subsistence production in their various agricultural activities.
She said “agricultural extensions agents should expand their scope to accommodate varieties of agricultural activities, such as, piggery, fish-feeds and snail rearing in addition to cultivation of crops.”
Mrs Titus urged the state Ministry of Agriculture in collaboration with the agency for Adult and Non-formal Education to design detailed curriculum for extension education with specific attention to improve agricultural practices.
She maintained that rural women form majority of the population in the rural areas, and are deeply involved in agricultural activities that generate income, noting that though rural women form active and reserve labour force, they rarely own means of production.
Titus blamed the poverty level among rural women in the Niger Delta region in particular and South-South geo-political zone in general in spite of their involvement in agricultural activities on non-adaptation to innovative agricultural activities and practices. She states that rural women simply rescind their fates to subsistence farming since there are no external supports.”
Meanwhile, the marriage counselor observed that rural women are hard-working and resourceful economic agents who would contribute to the income of families and the growth of communities in multitude of ways if properly integrated.
She, therefore, asserts that these women produce the bulk of world food crops, labour in and out of time in order to keep themselves and their families going on.
Mrs Titus also revealed that there are agricultural activities yet to be harnessed by rural women as shown in their low extent of involvement which includes fishery, piggery, snail, and cattle rearing, adding that the areas are known to be very lucrative and yield enough income.
The counselor appealed to government at all levels to encourage women in their quest to produce more foods by providing soft loans and other financial supports to enable them feel the impact of the government of the day.

Bethel Toby