The Federal Government has advocated the promotion of gender mainstreaming into climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies for women famers.
A statement by Mr Mohammed Gana, an information officer, in the ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Mohammad Abubakar, made the call at a workshop in Oyo, Oyo State.
The workshop was on gender mainstreaming into climate change; mitigation and adaptation strategies for women farmers in the South West Zone of the country.
The minister said the efforts would increase the productivity of both men and women farmers across the food value chain.
Abubakar, who was represented by the State Director, Mrs Folashade Oguntuyi-Abimbola , reiterated the ministry’s commitment to gender mainstreaming at all levels of the agricultural sector.
He said that it ( gender mainstreaming) was a tool for achieving gender-based reforms and increasing productivity by men and women along all the food value chains.
“Nigeria’s agricultural sector is most vulnerable and susceptible to the impacts of climate change.
” The reason for this cannot be farfetched, this is because, it is rain-fed dependent; any change in the weather pattern, in terms of the amount, intensity, duration, and the onset, affects the farmers decisions on when, what and which of the crops to cultivate.
” Climate change and variability affects particularly women who constitute the most vulnerable amongst the farming communities.
” The statistics indicate that women small holder farmers constitute about 80 percent of the labour force involved in agricultural production, and grows the bulk of the food for domestic consumption in Nigeria.
” Overall, they constitute about 43 percent of the agricultural labour force in the developing countries,” he said.
According to the minister, adequate provisions have been made to address the various challenges and needs faced by women farmers especially in the area of climate change, access to inputs including credit as well as information and technologies.
He said climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies would help to build and enhance women farmers resilience to threats of climate in agricultural production.
” The choice of Oyo as one of the states in the series of outlined workshops, is due to the fact that the state is one of the frontline states within the agro-ecological zones in the country that is vulnerable to the impact of climate change,” he said.
Earlier, the Commissioner, Oyo State Ministry of Agriculture, Mr Adeniyi Adebisi, represented by the Director of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development Mrs Iroko Ibwaumolara, said the training would go a long way to open the eyes of women to climate change causes and adaptation strategies.
He said the agricultural sector was mostly hit by the effect of climate change whereby farmers experienced floods and draught, leading to loss of crops; earth warming leading to dangerous animals leaving their natural abode to enter villages.
In her remark, Mrs. Ifeoma Anyanwu, Head, Gender Unit, Department of Special Duties, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural, said the National Gender Policy in Agriculture was produced in 2019, with 11 objectives to reduce the vulnerability of women in the agricultural sector.
