CSOs Advocate Safe Space For Women In Agriculture

A coalition of civil society organisations (CSOs) has identified unequal distribution of power and resources between men and women as significant drivers of violence against women and girls particularly in the agricultural sector.

The groups urged that ending all forms of violence against women and girls within the agricultural value chain is a pathway towards sustainable food security.

They disclosed this during a breakfast roundtable discussion with stakeholders and media in commemoration of the 2022 16 Days of activism against gender based violence themed “UNITE! Activism to end violence against women and girls”, in Abuja, while blaming tradition and religion amongst others as some of the factors promoting gender injustice in the country.

The groups include Centre for Accountability and Inclusive Development, (CAAID) Development Initiative for Community Enhancement, (DICE) Health Education Agriculture Development Africa Initiative, (HEARD Africa) and Initiative for African Society Inclusion and Diversity for Development (INCLUD Africa).

In a jointly signed statement released at the meeting, the group stated that exclusion and denial of women to access, own or inherit land, and restricted access to credit facilities and agricultural resources are some of the violations women experience in farming, thereby limiting the ability of the young and adult women farmers to adequately contribute to the advancement of the food system and attainment of their potential within their lifetime all because they are born women.

According to them, women in Nigeria account for 75-80 per cent of the farming population, working as casual workers, farm managers and suppliers of labour, saying “They are involved at different levels across value chains which include aggregator and distributor, logistics, processing, market access and trading. These women experience one form of violence or another particularly, discrimination in access to finance, inputs, information and training and land.”

On her part, a farmer and coordinator, Small Scale Women Farmers Organisation of Nigeria, (SWOFON) FCT chapter, Comfort Sunday narrated that a major challenge faced by women is lack of access to land.

She also lamented the level of insecurity posed against women farmers.

Also, a young farmer, Rashidat Mohammed, lamented the psychological bullying faced by young female farmers while calling for access to subsidised fertilizers which according to her, seems to be more accessible by men