Follow Us on Google
From Sola Ojo, Kaduna
The general manager, Kaduna State Agricultural Development Agency (KADA), Dr. Abubakar Bayero, has said empowering women in agriculture is not an abomination as being perceived by some Africans.
Bayero spoke on the sidelines of a one-day validation meeting of the draft report of the gender situation analysis of agriculture and rural development in Kaduna State with stakeholders within the agriculture sector, organised by the Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa’s gender consortium, in collaboration with the Kaduna State Ministry of Agriculture.
The validation meeting on the draft report was a part of the AGRA project, “The enhancing resilience and upscaling of gender-inclusive rural economy for increased productivity, livelihoods and food security”, aimed at addressing the gender deficit in contributing effectively to food security and agricultural development, thereby exacerbating poverty and stunting sustainable development in Kaduna State.
According to Bayero, from time immemorial, women have been deprived of having access to land and other available community resources and this is practiced the world over but even worse in Africa.
“In most communities, most of these women are the breadwinners and, with the inflation we have at hand, the salary of husbands alone cannot take care of the needs of the families.
“So, empowering women is not an abomination. They need to be empowered to support their husbands. Due to several circumstances, we have more widows than widowers and some left their wives and children behind while a lot of these women are not doing anything to sustain the home.
“So, if they are empowered, it is like empowering yourself as a husband. She will offer support when you are there and also when you are not there, she will take care of the education of the children so they can live like normal Nigerians. Again, agriculture is the largest sector of the economy in Nigeria and Kaduna State. This draft report will help us to carry everyone along in agric planning and implementation in the state”, he said.
Coordinator, AGRA Gender Consortium in the state, Mrs. Hannatu Ahuwan, clarified that the validation meeting was a part of the work. She said: “We have been doing together with the state ministry of agriculture to have a gender policy in agriculture in the state.
“For us in Kaduna State, we are here today to validate the structural analysis report that was commissioned to understand the situation in the state regarding agriculture.
“This is important because even if we want to domesticate the gender policy, we cannot take it verbatim. What this report has done is to talk to different stakeholders, including the government, private sector, youths, people with disability, the aged, rural dwellers, and other individuals to know what is the policy the government put in place, and how is this policy helping the people.
“Now the validation is to bring different stakeholders together to look at the report holistically and see whether there are gaps to be captured because this report is what is going to inform the development of the Kaduna State policy in agriculture.
“When we have a deliberate policy in place, it will help to guide government or other organisations or individuals in terms of budgeting and implementation which will, in the long run, ensure that all the groups that matter benefit and we have food security.”
