Stakeholders in the agriculture sector have called for an enabling environment for women farmers to boost food security.
They said this in separate interviews with the media in commemoration of International Women’s Day (IWD) on Wednesday in Lagos.
The IWD which is marked annually on March 8 is a global day to celebrate the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women.
The Lagos state Chairperson, of the Association of Women in Trade and Agriculture (AWITA), Mrs. Anthonia Amakwe, called for enhanced access to finance by women farmers to boost their productivity.
“We should create an enabling environment for women in the sector.
“There should be a commercial bank that is gender friendly, that will give women farmers soft loans to grow their farms.
“Women farmers should also be supported with farm inputs like their male counterparts.
“They should be able to buy inputs and seedlings as at and when due like the male farmers.
“Finance is very important to the female farmers to be able to make their mark in the sector and increase food security chances for the nation,” Amakwe told NAN.
She also urged women farmers to make the trade more attractive in order to encourage the next generation of female farmers.
“We should also encourage young women to come into the sector and this can only be possible when we make it enviable like every white-collar job.
“People want to wear nice dresses and look good, so we can admire women farmers when we make the sector more attractive,” she said.
Amakwe said women who account for over 70 percent of local farmers in Nigeria were often the most marginalized and less paid.
On her part, Ms. Ifeoluwa Oyeyemi, the Chief executive officer, of Farm Help Agro Stores, stressed the need for enhanced finance to encourage women farmers.
“We can create an enabling environment for women farmers by making finance readily available for them.
“Acceptance of women in the agric sector is the major problem, women should be embraced and given the same opportunities just like their male counterparts.
“We should also make mechanized farming and training available for female farmers to ease the issue of labor in the sector.
“More opportunities should be created for women farmers to access loans and incentives to grow their farms.
“Women-friendly policies should be formulated and implemented to encourage more women farmers in the sector,” Oyeyemi said.
