The UNESCO Read and Earn Federation (REF) has stated that equipping young women in agriculture would be vital to enhancing food availability and tackling the state of emergency declared by the Federal Government on food security.
The UNESCO REF President, Abdulsalami Ladigbolu, who made the remark in Abuja at the weekend, said there was need for the president to prioritise agricultural integration to curb the inflation in food items in the market caused by insecurity in the North East, North West and South East.
He said that women played a pivotal role in agricultural integration, which could make it possible for the country to achieve ‘zero hunger’. According to him, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimates that women comprise 43 per cent of the global agricultural workforce.
“This number you see goes up to over 60 per cent in the least developed countries. In spite of the key role women play in agricultural development, they still have less access to technologies, information, resources and finance for their agricultural activities across the globe,” he said.
Ladigbolu, therefore, said that as an organisation collaborating with the government, it has introduced an agricultural initiative to stem the shortcomings of low food supplies in the country.
“UNESCO REF, under its Strategic Intervention Programme-ALPHA (SIP-ALPHA), has partnered with some organisations and relevant stakeholders to empower young women in agriculture.
“This initiative is part of our commitment to contribute our quota towards actualising substantial attainment of the United Nations global goal before or by 2030 with emphasis on goal two, which aims at achieving ‘zero hunger’,” he said.
“Recognising the key role women play in agriculture, the launching of Young Women in Agriculture in Nigeria could not have come at any better time than now when food insecurity has become a major issue in Nigeria,” he added.