IFAD urges policies on women’s productivity in agric

Hajiya Aina’u Ibrahim, Gender Officer, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Office in Jigawa State, has called for the introduction of more gender-friendly policies to boost the productivity of women in agriculture.


Ibrahim who made the call while speaking recently in Dutse, the Jigawa State capital, noted that in spite of the vital role of women in agricultural production, they still have limited access to land and other resources.

“History has shown that women constitute about 70 per cent of the workforce in the agricultural sector but they still do not have access to land and other resources or control over them. In spite of the vital role which women play in agriculture such as crop planting, fertiliser application, harvesting, crop threshing and packaging, among others, they still face serious challenges such as illiteracy and poverty,’’ she said.

Ibrahim said most women are unable to access services that could boost their productivity while majority of farmlands owned by women in rural areas are inherited. “Surprisingly, you will, however, discover that the women either lease or lend the farmlands out, or sometimes give the lands to their husbands to farm.


“So, we are telling them that they should take full control of their farmlands and venture into agriculture. I am sure that by so doing, it will lift them out of poverty and they will eventually become employers of labour, and not labourers,’’ she added.

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