The Permanent Secretary, Federal
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Sunny Echono, said women are the
cornerstone of agricultural production, processing, marketing and utilisation
in the country, NaijaAgroNet
reports.
He added that Nigeria’s agriculture
could never achieve any meaningful development without mainstreaming concern
into the nation’s policy and programme.
“Women supply 70 per cent of
agricultural labour; 50 per cent of animal husbandry related activities and 60
per cent of food processing, yet they have access to only 20 per cent of
available agricultural resources They play vital roles in the maintenance of
our families, investing as much as 90 per cent of their income.”
NaijaAgroNet learnt that Echono was
represented by the ministry’s Deputy Director, Extension, Dele Onorunfemi at
the launch of African women in agriculture report titled: “Economic empowerment
of African women through equitable participation in agricultural value chains’’
on Monday in Abuja.
Also speaking at the occasion, the
Nigeria Country Director, African Development Bank, Ousmane Dore, said Nigerian
women contribute close to 70 per cent of agricultural workforce yet get less of
accruing returns.
He said the report aimed at
contributing to the economic empowerment of African women in agriculture,
through identification and proffering of possible solutions to hindrances to
women’s active participation in agricultural value chains.
“Lack of ownership of land and other
productive assets due to existing social norms has created a significant
negative impact on the family income and the nation’s GDP at large,’’ Mr. Dore
said.
Cyriacus
Nnaji/ED,OPs
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