NGO seeks restoration Growth Enhancement Support Scheme

ActionAid Nigeria

The ActionAid Nigeria and the Small-Scale Women Farmers Organisation in Nigeria (SWOFON) have reiterated the call by women farmers for restoration of the scrapped Growth Enhancement Support (GES) scheme of the Federal Government, initiated by the immediate past Minister of Agriculture, Dr Akinwumi Adesina for Nigerian farmers.

The call came in a communique issued by both organisations at the end of a two-day SWOFON Annual National Forum hosted by ActionAid Nigeria in Abuja.

The communique stated that famers, especially smallholder women farmers, were not currently part of the agriculture budgeting and policy-making processes even though they produce over 70 per cent of foods consumed in the country, and called for the involvement of smallholder women farmers in agriculture budgeting and policy-making processes at all levels of government.

They also called for urgent review of the Land Use Act to address the issue of gender discrimination in land ownership.

They urged the Federal and State Ministries of Agriculture to create specific yearly budget line items for smallholder women farmers.

They enjoined Ministries of Agriculture to allocate at least 10 per cent of their annual budget each year in fulfillment of the Maputo Declaration.

The communique said: “Cheap and easy access to credit at single digit interest rate should be made available to smallholder women farmers across Nigeria.

“The Rural Development Department of the Federal Ministry Agriculture and Rural Development need to support smallholder women farmers with the installation of solar-powered boreholes to help with irrigation farming and household use in rural households and communities.

“Federal and State Ministries of Agriculture and Rural Development need to ensure that extension agents across the 36 states and the FCT train smallholder women farmers on the proper use of agro-chemicals.

“SWOFON should be included in the National Agriculture Council of Nigeria to represent women farmers.’’

The communique equally urged the Federal and State Governments to increase their funding of extension services and support smallholder women farmers by employing female extension officers.

GES was a farm support initiative through which registered farmers had access to quality seeds, fertilizers and agro-chemicals at 50 per cent subsidized price.

However, the scheme was bedevilled by many challenges, including supply of substandard inputs to farmers.

This prompted the current administration to announce its replacement with the Agricultural Inputs and Mechanization Scheme

Meanwhile, at the Forum some participant bared their minds on some pertinent issues: Mrs. Janet Adejo a farmer from Benue state said that the sector lacks policy implementation which leaves out women farmers’ who are the major contributors in terms of food production across the country.

While urging the government to come up with friendly policies that would allow long lasting improvements in the sector Adejo recounted that 20-40% of the harvest is lost annually during processing, pointing out that there was need for proper storage facilities pointing out that the lack of good storage conditions was responsible for most of their harvest being attacked by pests thereby reducing the quality of the crops produced.

She further demanded that the federal government to look into the issue of flooding as it is one of the commonest environmental hazards threatening food security now in Nigeria is flood.

She also noted that the continuous violation of land use planning, population explosion, and poor quality materials used in construction of buildings increases the towns’ vulnerability to flood hazard and that the damages caused rural farmers by the flood was colossal, including destruction of farm houses, stored farm produce and household properties.

She pointed out that flood waters also wash away crops and farm land, leading to food insecurity and that in reducing the vulnerability of the communities to flooding and to make affected communities resilient and food secured there was need for the council to institute improved land use planning, removal of structures flood plains and discourage farmers from farming and living close to the river.

 She noted that more measures include intensifying environmental education of residents especially in the areas of flood risk and co-opting of government agencies and the Community in a Community based flood risk management for active participation.

Another farmer from Ayayare community in Ondo state, Chief Iyalobirin Folashade Ogunsusi pleaded that the federal government come up with policies and solutions that would solve the ongoing farm invasion in her community by the herdsmen during cattle grazing, which has continuously resulted into increased lost of farm produce in the state, as most farms have been destroyed and in her community.

She enjoined the federal government to come to the rescue of the farmers in Ondo state, as according to her, the slow response from the state government has led to suspicions that government was conniving with and in support of the Fulani militiamen involved in the farm destruction in the state.

Mrs. Victoria Alade from Nassarawa State disclosed that despite the vast land for agriculture, the issue of land has become an issue in the sector, especially for women farmers and that agricultural practices in Nigeria was not as good as it used to be in time past, due to policy summersault, which was currently responsible for the low contribution of the sector to the economy.

She added that women in the sector suffer because of low output, and because of that, it was getting harder to feed the increasing population.

Madam Joy Musa from Jigawa state said that to get things right, the first ways to change the situation is training and raising the level of education, as skilled and educated workers can sustain the durability of mechanized farm tools noting that modern agricultural education programs for women farmers is a needed tool to change the current situation.

Madam Musa added that there should be a developed system of available loans at reasonable interest rates for farmers’.