SWOFON advocates robust agricultural policy for women farmers in FCT

Female farmers under the coalition of Small Scale Women Farmers Organisation of Nigeria, SWOFON, have stressed the need for a robust agricultural policy that will support women farmers in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.

The policy, according to the coalition, will serve as a fulcrum against which more detailed evaluation of budgetary provisions can be based.

The coalition was speaking during the State Level Stakeholders Consultative Meeting and Press briefing on the 2023 FCT Agriculture Budget Analysis on Tuesday in Abuja.

Reading the communique issued at the end of the meeting, the coalition pointed out issues to be addressed in the 2023 Agriculture budget for implementation in the FCT.

They stressed the need for FCT to adopt technical support to develop a robust Agricultural policy that will support women participation in agricultural production.

“The FCTA need to provide more details on budget activities in terms of location and quantity with clarity in the description of activities for proper tracking and monitoring of implementation and reporting in support of transparency and accountability in public resource application.

“A gender disaggregated statistic of the farming population in FCT is needful. and where it is available it should be put in the public domain for use. For obvious reasons, the initiative will improve advocacy in support of women farmers toward better public investment in agriculture and effective allocation and utilization of public resources.

“We call on the FCT administration and the legislature to increase appropriation to the agricultural sector in line with the 10% Malabo/Maputo Declaration toward increased production and agricultural sector contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) this will help to support women participation in agricultural production.

“FCT Bureau of Statistics in collaboration with the FCT management should prioritize the production of gender-disaggregated statistics of FCT farmers to aid proper planning and allocation of resources in the agricultural sector.

“The Executive and legislative (NASS) should as a matter of urgency intervene in the reversal of the existing trend with FCT budget proposal late submission, late consideration, and ascent by the president”, the coalition noted.

They also advocated for the prompt release of agricultural input to smallholder women farmers.

In their words, “Agriculture is a seasonal and time bound activity, therefore FCTA should release the agricultural farm inputs to smallholder women farmers on time.

“Allocation to agricultural inputs need to be improved to increase food production and livelihood of food producers mostly women

“FCTA needs to increase number of extension workers mostly women to align with international best practice and for effective extension service delivery to farmers in the Federal Capital Territory.

“The FCT budget should include an allocation to storage and processing facilities and training for vegetables to reduce post-harvest loses and strengthen the role of women in agriculture production and processing.

“While the appropriation to post-harvest losses has improved the expansion is required to cover beyond grains to vegetables, fruits and tubers which are key crop women farmers cultivate and which are faced with higher level of losses. It is imperative and crucial to engage the Private sectors that drive the agricultural women farmers with improving post-harvest loss.

“We recommend that NAFDAC engage with the smallholder women farmers to provide capacity building and soft landing towards product registration for improved products exports.

“Improved consideration is required for Research and Development through increased appropriation to area such as simple mechanized agricultural tools that can help women produce more. Other include crop development, pest control, improved seed and seedling that are pest resistant.

“There is need to train and retain extension agents on the new trends and digital advancements through FCTA counterpart funding”.

They also called on the FCT administration to improve allocation to the Women in Agriculture budget item in demonstration of the clear understanding of the critical role of women farmers in FCT agricultural development.