Stakeholders task FG on access to land for women farmers

In a bid to make its food security dream a reality, the Federal Government has been urged to facilitate easy allocation of land for all Nigerians, especially women to make farming effortless for all.

ActionAid Nigeria, which made the call at a townhall meeting in Abuja, pointed out that the country may not be able to achieve self sufficiency in food production if the women who make about 60 per cent of the farming population do not have easy access to land.

The Country Director of ActionAid, Andrew Mamedu, while speaking during the meeting organised by the Small Scale Women Farmers Organisation in Nigeria (SWOFON), emphasised the need for both government and community leaders to take deliberate steps towards easing restrictions on land ownership for women.

Represented by the Director, Business Development and Innovation of the organisation, Mrs Nkechi Ilochi-Kani, Mamedu, emphasised the significance of women’s land ownership, “he who owns the land controls everything in the land, and can have the capacity to decide the kind of crop that that person would farm. So, it is tied to issues of control and independence of women, and so that’s very critical.”

He urged community leaders who are the custodians of land at the community level, to also begin to think, “even if they don’t want to give women as single or maybe as individuals, they can form cooperatives and give the land as a cooperative land to the women.”

A consultant with SWOFON, Chris Kaka, maintained that the National Agricultural Technology Innovation Policy (NATIP) admits that women play critical role in food production, however, their capacity to effectively contribute to the sector are being hindered due to lack of access to land.

He pointed out the conflict in the institutional framework surrounding access to land as enshrined in the Constitution in Sections 43 and 44, which does not discriminate on gender in terms of access to land, noting that the Land Use Act also say the same.

“However, the customary law says the right to own land rest with the men, and the women can only have access to land based on marriage.”

Kaka noted that ownership of land by women would enable them grow economic crops that takes a longer period to grow and not limit them to vegetables or crops that grows within three months.

The Managing Director, BeTheHead Foundation, Samuel Kwasari, emphasised the need for the country to embrace technology to boost food production. He pointed out that Nigeria has about 38 million farmers, yet, not food sufficient, while countries like Netherlands has about 34,000 farmers, adding that they are not just feeding themselves but also feeding other countries.

To tackle these problems, Kwasari urged government’s support for the subsistent farmers, as adopted indigenous solutions to tackle problems facing the sector.

On her part, the SWOFON FCT State Coordinator, Comfort Sunday, said the group with over 500,000 rural farmers has been advocating for increase food production through capacity building of smallholder women farmers to demand for their rights and privileges from the duty bearers, while serving as vocal and visible pressure group on behalf of smallholder women farmers in Nigeria.