‘Women in agriculture face many barriers’
Oxfam Courtesy visit
Oxfam showed a documentary film to the public that chronicled the achievements of rural female small scale farmers, food heroes and high quality cassava flour. What do you hope to achieve with this?
As you know Oxfam is an organisation that works in many countries of the world. But this work is hardly seen by the larger public. Oxfam is not only supporting small scale farmers, but also documenting their achievements in higher productivity, higher income and that needs to be documented through filming. We use documentary to send out clearer message to broader public. Here the message is that female food heroes are women who produce staple food for Nigerians to eat. Most people know but the public we hardly talk about how important a woman is in agriculture. Women in agriculture in Nigeria face many barriers. One of them is access to land. A woman in a very traditional society in rural areas is not really entitled to own land. Land property rights are important to be productive. Of course, you are not productive if you don’t have property rights, because someone takes it away, which happens to many women in Nigeria. So this is one cause to improve the Land Use Act of 1978 and give more right to female to access land. The others are access to fertiliser, finance. The other aspect of this event is public and active citizenship. No society develops without active citizens.
The last documentary on high quality cassava is related to the policy of the previous government to improve the production of high quality cassava for bakery products. And what we try to show is that the policy is not working. So why is the policy not really working? Why is Nigeria still importing wheat from already rich Texas farmers .why is Nigeria not investing more in its own home-grown staple food?
What do you think can be done to stop importing wheat?
I think Nigerians, the government, the private sector, should to try to include more high quality cassava in bakery products and see if the consumers like it or not. You hardly find any cassava bread any more, why? I think the consumers-Nigerians, should decide if they like the cassava bread or not.
You mentioned so many factors that affect women farmers. What are your recommendations in this regard?
I think we need to review the Land Use Act of1978. Generally, land in Nigeria is highly under-valuated. It does not generate any tax. Land does not stimulate market economy. Most lands in Nigeria, according to our understanding, are not used. Our understanding is that only 10 percent of arable land in Nigeria is used. Nigeria, on the other side, imports rice from Asia, wheat from the United States.
As you know Oxfam is an organisation that works in many countries of the world. But this work is hardly seen by the larger public. Oxfam is not only supporting small scale farmers, but also documenting their achievements in higher productivity, higher income and that needs to be documented through filming. We use documentary to send out clearer message to broader public. Here the message is that female food heroes are women who produce staple food for Nigerians to eat. Most people know but the public we hardly talk about how important a woman is in agriculture. Women in agriculture in Nigeria face many barriers. One of them is access to land. A woman in a very traditional society in rural areas is not really entitled to own land. Land property rights are important to be productive. Of course, you are not productive if you don’t have property rights, because someone takes it away, which happens to many women in Nigeria. So this is one cause to improve the Land Use Act of 1978 and give more right to female to access land. The others are access to fertiliser, finance. The other aspect of this event is public and active citizenship. No society develops without active citizens.
The last documentary on high quality cassava is related to the policy of the previous government to improve the production of high quality cassava for bakery products. And what we try to show is that the policy is not working. So why is the policy not really working? Why is Nigeria still importing wheat from already rich Texas farmers .why is Nigeria not investing more in its own home-grown staple food?
What do you think can be done to stop importing wheat?
I think Nigerians, the government, the private sector, should to try to include more high quality cassava in bakery products and see if the consumers like it or not. You hardly find any cassava bread any more, why? I think the consumers-Nigerians, should decide if they like the cassava bread or not.
You mentioned so many factors that affect women farmers. What are your recommendations in this regard?
I think we need to review the Land Use Act of1978. Generally, land in Nigeria is highly under-valuated. It does not generate any tax. Land does not stimulate market economy. Most lands in Nigeria, according to our understanding, are not used. Our understanding is that only 10 percent of arable land in Nigeria is used. Nigeria, on the other side, imports rice from Asia, wheat from the United States.
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