On Tuesday, March 22, 2022, Sahel Consulting hosted a virtual event titled ‘Gender Equality for Sustainable Agriculture in Africa’ to commemorate International Women’s Month. The event featured female speakers who are making a difference and breaking down barriers in Nigeria’s agricultural sector. Ifeoma Anyanwu (Assistant Director, Head Gender, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), Ifunaya Ugboko (Head, One Woman, Sterling Bank), Asma Begum Mirza (CEO, Muhammed and Roshaneh Farms LTD), and Atinuke Lebile are among those on the panel (Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer, Cato Foods)
The event was moderated by Tolulope Babajide (Financial Inclusion and Gender Manager, Sahel Consulting) and began with a welcome address by Temi Adegoroye, the Managing Partner of Sahel Consulting. In his speech, he reaffirmed Sahel Consulting’s commitment to gender equity and equality as a prerequisite for sustainable agriculture in Nigeria and Africa. He also informed the audience about Sahel Consulting’s gender mainstreaming efforts in all of its programs, such as the Advancing Local Dairy Development in Nigeria (ALDDN) program, which is integrating women dairy farmers into the formal sector and supporting them in acquiring operational bank accounts, financial capability, and leadership skills.
Tolulope Babajide, who introduced the panelists, stated that the role of women in ensuring food security and economic development on the African continent is undeniable. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, women in African countries spend 60% of their time on agricultural activities, and women farmers contribute up to 50% of labor on farms in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, women face a number of challenges, including, but not limited to, low access to finance, limited access to inputs/extension services, limited access to markets, and limited access to land. Tolulope kicked off the discussion with the four speakers by addressing the barriers that women face in agriculture and providing strategic solutions.
The first panelist, Ifeoma Anyanwu highlighted the commitment of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to promoting gender equality in all agricultural activities and programs. She opined that the 2019 National Gender Policy in Agriculture is focused on enhancing women farmers’ access to input, extension services, and relevant technologies. She expanded on the need for strategic partnerships between the public and private sectors for more support for women farmers.
The second panelist, Ifunaya Ugboko, amplified the importance of financial service providers in identifying the pain points of women farmers and designing tailored services and products that would ameliorate them. She honed on the need for financial service providers to understand the motivations and needs of women farmers; she cited access to affordable credit as a critical need for the demographic as well as financial literacy and capability. She made reference to the ongoing partnership between Sterling Bank and Sahel Consulting on the ALDDN program for women dairy farmers as one of the collaborations that are mostly needed in the sector.
Asma Begum Mirza, the third panelist emphasized the need for a mindset shift for women farmers, citing feminized poverty and low literacy as major challenges limiting women’s progress in agriculture. She opined women farmers (who are mostly rural-based) have been conditioned to think of themselves as ‘second-class citizens’ hence not motivated to aspire for scalability and improved economic growth. She strongly recommended that the government, private sector, and development institutions make concentrated efforts in clustering women farmers and enabling them access to both local and international markets.
The fourth panelist, Atinuke Lebile, spoke on the challenges she faced as a young female farmer in Nigeria. She cited gender norms and access to land as major barriers in agriculture, which might further deter women’s participation.
The closing remarks were delivered by Aisha Hadejia, Manager, Sahel Consulting, who began by thanking everyone for attending and ended with a call to action: “What are you doing in your own circle of influence to break the bias, how many women have you influenced?” “How many women do you have working for you, in your office, or on your farm?” If we want a world that is sustainable and prosperous, gender equity is the silver bullet.
The video recording of the event can be accessed here
