Food security: Kogi women farmers seeks government attention

Women farmers in Kogi State under the aegis of Smallholder Women Farmers Organisation of Nigeria (SWOFON) and Budget Committee Group (BCG) have urged the state government to prioritise agriculture towards achieving food security.

Hajia Rukayat Attalet, State Coordinator of SWOFON, made the call during a news conference in conjunction with ActionAid Nigeria in Lokoja on Friday.

Attalet, spoke on behalf of the groups and pointed out the need for the government to provide farm inputs such as tractors, fertilizers, improves seeds and other agro chemicals to women farmers.

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SWOFON, is a coalition of women farmers across Nigeria working together to promote women-friendly agricultural policies and increasing women’s access to land, farm inputs and funding, aimed at improving agricultural productivity.

The groups noted with dismay that three tractors allocated to their members in 2024 by the state government to assist in food production were never delivered to them.

They said that the tractors were allegedly diverted by a commissioner and being used in his private farms in Ogun, Niger and Kogi States.

The groups maintained that should give more attention to the sector to encourage smallholder farmers in order to boost food production in the state

“Though we acknowledge government’s improvement on agriculture budget, it still remained a far cry from the Maputo declaration of 10 per cent. The budget performance for 2024 to actual farmers have been poor on threshold.

“For instance, the budget releases for the procurement of tractors, power tilers and harvesters to boost food security and sale functioning of food supply chains for poor household (CARES) has 98% performance, while procurement of agricultural inputs, equipment (FSTP) and others that will have direct impact on smallholder women farmers had zero performance in 2024 budget,” they said.

They, therefore, called on Gov. Ahmed Ododo’s administration to prioritise policies and framework on agriculture, commercial agriculture credit scheme, extension services, post harvest loss reduction, woman and youth empowerment.

According to them, other areas of priority include irrigation, labour saving technologies, agriculture inputs, climate resilient sustainable agriculture, and budget cash back and utilisation as a pathway to food security in the state.

They recommended that the state government should expand post-harvest loss reduction interventions beyond grain storage to include fruits and vegetables, given the state’s abundant production.

The groups advocated a Public Private Partnership (PPP) approach to establish fruit processing industries given the fact that Kogi accounts for N94.5bn of Nigeria’s annual N3.5 trillion post-harvest losses, and smallholder women farmers having access to only 19.90 per cent processing and 19.45 per cent storage facilities.

“There is a critical need for investment in cottage-level processing and storage infrastructure. We also recommend prompt fund releases and increased future funding, ” they stated.

In response to the alleged diversion of tractors, Mr Timothy Ojomah the state’s Commissioner for Agriculture, denied knowledge of any tractor meant for farmers being diverted by any government official for personal use.

Ojomah said that the Gov. Ododo-led administration was doing its best to improve food production through huge investment in the sector.

NAN/Wumi