LG boss makes case for women in agriculture

The Caretaker Committee Chairman of Ibadan North-East Local Government Area of Oyo State, Najeem Oluokun, has attributed the underperformance of agriculture in the country to lack of access to the resources and opportunities women need to be more productive.
He made the remark at the Role Modeling Event organised by a Senior Research Officer, National Horticultural Research Institute (NIHORT), Ibadan, Folasade Adeboyejo at the Wesley College of Science, Elekuro, Ibadan.
The Chairman, who noted that access to such facilities by women was not equal to that of their male counterparts, and maintained that “the gender gap imposes real costs on society in terms of lost agricultural output, food security and economic growth”.
While stressing that women make essential contributions to the rural economy of all countries in the world as farmers, labourers and entrepreneurs, Oluokun said the promotion of gender equality was not only good for women
, but also good for agricultural development. In her presentation entitled ‘Youth (Girls) in Agriculture: Expanding Opportunities and Changing Attitudes’, Adeboyejo disclosed that “female farmers play vital roles in African Agriculture doing most of the work to produce, process and market foods”.
It was further observed that the gender gaps, which women face in agriculture and rural employment, “are very pronounced”. She added that “compared with their male counterparts, women operate smaller farms on average, only half to two-thirds as large keep fewer livestock, typically of smaller of smaller breeds and earn less from the livestock they own”.
The African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD) Fellowship Laureate maintained that rural women farmers play critical roles in food production and food security which she described as “fundamental to agricultural and rural development in sub-Saharan Africa”.
But as important as the women are to agriculture, the NIHORT researcher lamented that some factors were limiting their productivity and these include unfavourable government policies, low literacy rates and cultural barriers. She also identified less control and access to resources and opportunities, producing less than male farmers and playing minimal role in decision making as other factors militating against the women farmers.