Nigerian Women Farmers Seek Domestication Of 2005 Maputo Declaration

Women Farmers in Nigeria under the auspices of Women in Agriculture (Kogi), have called on Federal Government and states to implement the 2005 Maputo Declaration.

According to them, the declaration recommends that 10 per cent of annual budgets of the governments should go to agriculture sector.

In a communiqué issued at the end of their 2015 Annual Women Farmers Forum on Saturday in Lokoja, the women urged governments to muster enough political will to implement agricultural policies and programmes.

The programme was organised by ActionAid Nigeria in collaboration with Kogi-based Participation Initiative for Behavioural Change in Development and Small Scale Women Farmers Organisation of Nigeria.

The communiqué, signed by Mrs Ketim Ocheja, noted that many policies and programmes that would have positively impacted on agricultural production were ignored due to lack of political will.

“Ten years after signing the Maputo Declaration Commitment on Agriculture and Food Security in Africa, Nigeria and Kogi have continued to fall short of committing the minimum 10 per cent of their budgets to agriculture.

“There are many policies and programmes for agricultural development but the political will needed for their implementation is low,’’ they said in the communiqué.

They, therefore, urged the government to develop policy priorities that would put women farmers at the forefront of agricultural policies and programmes.

They called for the review of existing land policy with emphasis on women ownership of land and to also regulate private sector involvement in agriculture.

They also called for continued government support for small scale farmers’ development programmes and capacity building.