Poverty: Empowering rural women crucial – group

Hajiya Marka Abass, Bauchi State Coordinator of Small Scale Women Farmers of Nigeria (SWOFON), says empowering rural women is crucial to ending hunger and poverty.

Abass said this in an interview with our correspondent on Monday in Bauchi.

She said that investing in rural women would significantly increase productivity and tackle hunger and malnutrition.

“I will also improve rural livelihoods, not only for women, but also for households, communities and nations,” she said.

The coordinator said that many rural women were in poverty and lacked access to financial services, clean water, cooking fuel and basic sanitation.

“Yet they must, every day, ensure there is food for their household,” Abass said.

She appealed to governments to provide farm inputs for rural women farmers and train them in dry season and wet season farming.

“We have not less than 100,000 registered women farmers across the 20 local government areas of the state – 500 members in each of the local government areas, excluding those not registered with SWOFON.

“Therefore, supporting rural women farmers would scale up food security and help hundreds of thousands to fight hunger, poverty and climate change.

“Growth in small-scale agriculture is two to four times more effective at reducing hunger and poverty than growth in any other sector; and women farmers are playing a central role,” she said.

Abass added that women farmers produced huge amounts of food for their families and communities.

The coordinator urged the Federal Government to provide improved farm inputs for dry season farming.

She called on governments to support rural women farmers for climate-smart agriculture as well as give them market access and improved funding, amongst other things.

“Governments should provide rural women farmers with access to farm inputs such as fertilisers, seedlings and agrochemicals which are usually sold in urban and semi-urban areas,” she said.