Zamfara Women Farmers Seek Land, Training Facilities

Women farmers under the Nigerian Women for Agricultural Progressive Development Initiative (NWAPDI) have appealed to the Zamfara State Government to provide them with access to land, a training centre and modern farming facilities to boost food production in the state.

The state coordinator of the initiative, Hajiya Shafa’atu Habibu Tsafe, made the call at the 2026 World Food Day celebration held at the Ministry of Agriculture headquarters in Gusau.

Tsafe said the association will support 150 women farmers with inputs such as fertiliser, seedlings, insecticides and processing equipment to improve their productivity.

She appealed to the wife of the governor, Hajiya Huriyya Dauda Lawal, to support NWAPDI with a training centre, greenhouse for seedlings and operational vehicles to reach farmers across the 14 local government areas.

She said the 2026 World Food Day theme, “Innovate Today, Nourish Tomorrow”, highlights the role of women and youth-driven innovations in food production, citing the use of potato and yam peels as livestock feed to reduce waste.

According to her, NWAPDI has established dry-season community gardens for tomatoes, cabbage, carrots and sweet potatoes, and has distributed small ruminants to 95 women across the state.

She said improved vaccination had cut livestock mortality from 50 per cent to below 10 per cent.

The coordinator called on the government to allocate at least half an acre to groups of 20 women farmers around dam sites for dry-season farming and to deploy extension officers to rural communities.

She also urged women to adopt low-cost practices such as seed preservation with ash, compost production from goat dung and weekly savings of N500 through Village Savings and Loan Associations.

In her remarks, the First Lady, Hajiya Huriyya Dauda Lawal, commended women farmers for their contributions to food security and praised the commitment of the NWAPDI coordinator.

She said the exhibition by the women showcased their hard work and growing role in improving household livelihoods.

The First Lady commended Governor Dauda Lawal for prioritising agriculture through grants and fertiliser support, and urged beneficiaries to use the inputs judiciously to increase yields.