Concerned by the current economic hardship in the country, the Honda Manufacturing Nigeria Limited has empowered Women farmers in the Southwest, as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives to boost their performance in the agricultural sector.

10 women were given Honda land tilling machines, water pumps and motorised backpack spraying machines free, putting smile on their faces. At an event, held in Lagos, which featured different categories of women in agriculture, titled: ‘Empowering Women in Agriculture,’ organised by the firm, the Managing Director, Honda Manufacturing Nigeria Limited, Mr. Tetsuya Kawai, said the programme was aimed at supporting and celebrating the vital roles of women in Nigeria’s agricultural sector, which provided the women with equipment, trainings to boost their productivity and income.

He said the gesture was borne out of the fact that the company understands the challenges faced by farmers and decided to empower women to make their lives better. Kawai said women contribute more to the upkeep of the family and the company machines would help them more than their previous performances.

The Divisional Manager in Charge of Sales and Customer Services, Mr. Olabode Badenjo, said Honda manufacture different kind of products, such as vehicles, motorcycles among others, but it discovered that customers of these products are mostly men.

He said the company decided to come up with a programme that would benefit women more than men, adding that since then it has been recruiting more women into the organisation.

Badenjo said towards this end, the company has started to manufacture more agricultural machines such as tractors, land tilling machines and water pumping machines among others, to help women and contribute to economic growth of the country.

The Consultant, Climate Change and Technical Team Lead to Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State, Prof. Chinwe Obuaku, said there is need for women farmers to sign a communiqué and present it to the Governors to ensure food security in Southwest states.

She said the communiqué would enable all Governors to organise a town hall meeting that would benefit and empower more women in all the states, especially at the grassroots level.