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Don canvasses more role for women in agriculture

By Abiodun Fagbemi, Ilorin
22 May 2016   |   4:11 am
The Acting Head of Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ilorin, Dr. Oluyemisi Fawole has canvassed more role for women, if Nigerian agricultural sector would blossom ...

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The Acting Head of Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ilorin, Dr. Oluyemisi Fawole has canvassed more role for women, if Nigerian agricultural sector would blossom under the government of President Buhari.

Delivering the Faculty of Agriculture paper recently on ‘Advancing Women in Agriculture: Roles of Education and Research,’ Fawole said a normal gender statistic in modern agricultural world should include at least two-thirds of the female labour force.

She however praised the efforts of the women in sub-Saharan African, who according to a recent statistic, form more than 60 per cent of those involved in food production.

Fawole, who won the prestigious African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD) Fellowship in 2015, said, “agricultural sector is a very important contributor to growth, food security and poverty reduction in any nation. Under performance of the sector in many African countries is partly because women face constraints that reduce their productivity.

The don said gender specific policies and services tailored to women in the value chains should be developed in order for agriculture to advance. She claimed that agricultural extension and formal financial institutions are biased towards a male clientele despite women’s importance as producers.”

The lecture was in fulfilment of one of the requirements of the fellowship. She said Nigerians’ orientation should shift from seeing agriculture as “traditional farming jobs” to agribusiness and job creating mechanism.

She described agriculture as a provider of countless job opportunities in such areas as: agronomy, animal/plant breeder, soil science, animal science, horticulture, and food science among others.

Fawole, while providing solutions to the issue of gender disparity in agriculture in Nigeria, canvassed increased productivity level of female farmers and their involvement in gender responsive research that transcends the farming system.

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