Some female farmers in Garaku community of Nassarawa State have called on governments and other stakeholders to support women in agriculture to boost the country’s economy and food security.They made this call in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in commemoration of the International Day of Rural Women.
Mrs Polina Magaji, a farmer, said that most women in Garaku community were basically farmers adding that their agricultural produce was a major source of income for the community.
Magaji said most women in the community were born farmers and engaged in farming from tender age but lacked fund and resources to embark on modern farming, hence they needed the support of the government.
”When I was growing up, my parents were proud farmers, my siblings and I would followed our parents to farm during weekends and long holidays.
”As a child, I had my own portion allocated to me by my father, where I planted maize and groundnuts. My zeal to become a farmer started at a tender age,” she said.
She added that inadequate farming equipments to enhance food production was a challenge faced by farmers in the rural area as pest and rodents sometimes destroyed their crops.
Also speaking, Miss Yemilo Danko, a fish farmer told NAN that women played vital role in food supply in the country as majority of processed food sellers in the market were mainly women.
Danko said that women in agriculture ought to be respected and supported for their contributions to food security in the country.
She said that the women also helped to provide support and food for their families and the society.
Danko said she went into fish farming after graduating from the University with the money she gathered during her youth service year after several attempts to get a well paid job failed.
She said that she had being into fish farming for 18 years and helped her travel across many states to supply fish to customers and also help in creating employment for people.
”Once is raining season, farmers panic because of erosion that would destroy crops, even some fish farmers lose thousands of fishes to flood during the rainy season.”
Danko encouraged women in agriculture to put in more efforts in spite of the challenges encountered and appealed to women across the country to engage in agriculture for the betterment of the country.
Mrs Bimbo Adebola, a farmer, said that farming wasn’t of interest to her but after the death of her husband, she started her poultry farm as a means to enable her cater for her family.
“I started my poultry farm as a medium scale farmer with the money I got from my previous fruit business. My children were my workers assisting me in cleaning the environment while I concentrated more on my birds.
”It was family division of labour that we were operating” she said.
Adebola said that poultry farm had helped her in her children’s education, adding that she had also been able to employ hundreds of graduates in her farm.
She said that the challenges in her business was poor climate condition that affects birds yearly due to climate change that lead to low productivity.
”As a woman and due to my experience in farming, my opinion does not count and I am looked down upon by other male farmers, and this is not going well for the women in the agricultural sector,” she said.
Adebola urged the government to place more priority on women in agriculture by providing facilities that would help increase food production and distribution of food in the country.
Mrs Bukola Oladipupo, another poultry farmer in Kubwa, said that the challenge faced in the poultry farming was that high cost of chicken feeds and drugs.
” Our governments do not want to know what is going on in the farm, they do not help us in any way to make things easier for us,” she said.
Oladipupo said employing youths to work in the farm was another challenge, because most often they were nit ready to cooperate and could run the business down.
Mr Anointing Omhelemhen, a graphic engineer, said that farming was a major occupation that was common among families in the rural area as a result of this women engage in farming as a means to support their husbands.
He advised women who do farming in small scale to expend their farming in order to generate more income for themselves and the society.
Omhelemhen said that women in agriculture should be held in high esteem as producers of food consumed in many homes, adding that women should be encouraged by providing grants and loans by the government as a means to enhance productivity.
