Food security: KWASU don advocates government’s encouragement for women farmers

By Stephen Oladele

A Professor of Agricultural Economics at Kwara State University (KWASU), Malete, Taibat Moji Yusuf, has suggested encouragements that can be given women farmers to aid government in achieving food security in the country.

The don advised government to empower the farmers for both subsistence and commercial farming, facilitate for them access to loan and mechanised farming, invest in rural infrastructural development, and remove for them discriminatory barriers.

She made the advice on Wednesday while delivering the 23rd Inaugural Lecture of the institution titled, “Empowering Women Farmers in Nigeria: Closing the Gender Gap for Agricultural Transformation and Food Security.”

Yusuf who have been involved in  field-based research for more than three decades said empowering women farmers was critical to improving agricultural productivity, strengthening food security, and reducing poverty across the country.

The agricultural economist urged that financial institutions should develop agricultural loan products tailored to the realities of women farmers and expand digital financial services to reach women in remote rural communities.

She called for reforms in agricultural extension services, including the recruitment of more female extension agents, flexible training schedules that take account of women’s domestic responsibilities and the use of mobile platforms to provide agricultural advisory services in local languages.

The inaugural lecturer said that investments in rural water supply, electricity, and childcare infrastructure would help reduce the burden of unpaid domestic labour on women and free more time for farming and agribusiness.

She recommended increased access to mechanised processing equipment and other labour-saving technologies designed around the operational needs of women farmers.

The don urged the government to reform inheritance laws to guarantee women’s rights to own and inherit land regardless of their marital status while also promoting joint land ownership for married couples.

She said that discriminatory land ownership practices remain one of the major obstacles preventing women farmers from accessing credit, agricultural inputs, and other productive resources.

The lecturer also advocated the expansion of gender-inclusive agricultural financing through microcredit schemes that do not require land as collateral.

She stressed the importance of adult literacy, agricultural training, and cooperative organisations in improving women’s management skills, technology adoption, and bargaining power.

The inaugural lecturer called for policies that would support income diversification through off-farm employment, agro-processing, and entrepreneurship, noting that improved roads, electricity, and information and communication technology would help rural households withstand agricultural shocks.

She urged the government and private sector to expand contract farming and credit programmes through public-private partnerships, particularly schemes capable of providing farmers with reliable markets, inputs, and financing while advocating investment in post-harvest storage, transportation, cold-chain facilities, and market information systems to reduce food losses and enable women farmers to derive greater value from their produce.

Yusuf also recommended the mainstreaming of eco-friendly agricultural technologies, particularly moringa-based bio-organic fertiliser, through agricultural extension services, cooperative production networks, and soil fertility programmes.

She urged communities to promote moringa cultivation to guarantee steady supplies of raw materials for the production of the organic fertiliser.

The lecturer called for mandatory gender impact assessments for agricultural development programmes and policies, alongside greater representation of women on policy committees, agricultural boards, and farmers’ unions.

She also advocated dedicated budgetary provisions for gender-responsive agricultural investments and stronger monitoring mechanisms to assess their impact.

The don advised that agricultural policies should be integrated with national poverty reduction strategies as she said that food security could not be achieved in isolation from employment, education, and healthcare.

She noted that with an estimated 140 million Nigerians living below the poverty line, coordinated action across different sectors had become urgent adding that closing the gender gap in agriculture was not merely a question of fairness but an essential strategy for transforming Nigeria’s agricultural economy and improving national food security.