The Federal Government of Nigeria and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Assisted Projects beneficiaries have emphasized on the importance of supporting rural women to ensure food security, build climate resilience and strengthen economies.
The beneficiaries made the call at a Summit in commemoration of International Day of Rural Women held on Tuesday, October 15, 2024 at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The Summit was organised by African Union and development partners with the theme: Empowering Women Living in Rural Areas through Education and Access to Technology: Bridging the Gap for Inclusive and Sustainable Agri-Food Systems in Africa.
Speaking as a panelist at a fish bowl discussion on “Access to Productive Resources (Land, Finance, Technology, Productivity Enhancing Inputs) and Market Linkages for Women Living in Rural Areas”, Mrs. Patricia Achii, FGN/IFAD-Assisted Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP), Nigeria beneficiary noted the challenges faced by rural women and how IFAD-VCDP had supported her and women in her community to surmount these challenges.
Achii who is an entrepreneur in the cassava value chain said the role of women in national development cannot be overemphasized adding that education and access to technology is critical to empowering rural women to achieve inclusive and sustainable food systems.
“With the support of VCDP, I established an adult literacy training centre for women in my community and about 1,000 women have graduated from this literacy class. These women are now able to read and write and are now able to manage their farming activities as a business” Achii stated.
Another beneficiary from the IFAD-Livelihood Improvement Family Enterprises Niger-Delta (LIFE-ND), Mrs Temilade Ebiware who was a panelist on the Panel Discussion on “Building Capacities of Women Living in Rural Areas for Sustaining Nature, Building Climate Resilience, and Caring for Lands in Africa” said capacity building by LIFE-ND on climate smart agriculture has equipped her with knowledge to adapt to climate change in her aquaculture business.
In her presentation on a Panel Discussion on “Capacity Strengthening and Access to Advisory Services for Women Living in Rural Areas: Key Successes, Challenges and Way Forward”, the Country Director of IFAD Nigeria, Mrs Dede Ekoue said that IFAD in line with the Nigeria Food Systems Transformation Pathways, is helping smallholders especially rural women increase their incomes, improve their access to markets, increase their production and build their resilience.
“We are promoting key initiatives such as the Gender Action Learning Systems (GALS) to achieve a more equitable balance in workloads and in sharing of economic benefits between women and men. The GALS methodology has greatly empowered women to have voice in their households and communities and changed relationship dynamics between spouses in many households”
Ekoue noted that IFAD is working with the Federal Government of Nigeria on a Digital Innovation Action Plan to scale up digital solutions for increased uptake among women and young people to enhance productivity, production, food and nutrition security, market access, income and resilience of smallholder farmers.
In her remarks, H.E Ambassador Josefa Sacko, Commissioner for Agriculture Rural Development Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment at the African Union said women living in rural areas are central to Africa’s agricultural landscape, contributing significantly to food production, processing, and distribution.
“Despite these contributions, they face considerable barriers, including limited access to education, productive resources and assets, political representation and they are most of the time excluded in the decision-making processes in affairs that impact them”. She added.
Ambassador Sacko noted that the AU will work with various stakeholders to identify gaps and gather inputs to ensure a comprehensive and inclusive approach in the development of a continental policy framework for women in agriculture to inform the establishment of the Platform for African Women in Agriculture (PAWA).
Key outcomes of the event included a call-to-action roadmap and a marketplace exhibition which provided opportunity for IFAD projects and other participants to showcase best practices and products along different value chains.
The event also helped build a network with rural women and several strategic actors to continue exchange of best practices to empower rural women including youth for sustainable food security and better incomes.