NGO Trains Women Farmers On Climate Smart Agriculture

A non-governmental organisation, the International Centre for Environmental Health and Development, ICEHD, has trained 100 women farmers on climate-smart agriculture in the Ikorodu area of Lagos.

The Programme Manager, Miss Mercy Joshua, said the training was with the provision of farming tools to strengthen their capacity to access skills, resources, and opportunities to address climate  challenges.

Joshua, who gave the theme of the training as  “Climate Justice and Economic Resilience Project for Rural Women Farmers in Nigeria,” said it will assist in boosting their farm production and enhance food security.

According to her, many women in Nigeria are economically excluded due to varied socioeconomic factors and cultural barriers.

“The adverse impact of climate change worsens this situation. Nigeria’s climate is increasingly changing, evidenced in upsurges in temperature, variable rainfall, flooding, and land degradation, with these changes bringing a gendered impact as it disproportionately affects women and widens gender inequalities.

“The small-scale women farmers lose opportunities, markets, and profits as climate change hits Nigeria. With a series of engagements with community leaders, women’s groups and local women farmers in 2022 and this year across the six geo-political zones, ICEHD, with support from African Development Fund, AWDF, had embarked upon the two-year project. 

“It is focused on empowering rural women farmers in Nigeria with knowledge, skills, resources, and tools to enable them to access economic opportunities and be equipped with sustainable solutions to address climate challenges. 

“This will enable them to achieve economic justice and the capacity to project their voices towards reforms in agricultural policy, gender mainstreaming in agricultural budgeting and financial inclusion, to promote the rights of women farmers in Nigeria,” she said.

Joshua stated that working with the Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture, Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Ministry of Environment and Water Resources in this second year of the project, over 100 women farmers have been trained in Lagos.

She explained that this is to achieve change where women can participate equally with men in accessing resources and opportunities for economic advancement.

She stated further that the trained women farmers were empowered with farming tools such as garden tools, portable watering cans, organic fertiliser, super-grow booster, and soil amendment.

“Also, a copy of the ICEHD book publication titled, ‘Power of Resilience: Nigerian Women Farmers Share their Challenges and Experiences’ was given to them to further their knowledge base,” Joshua said.

Also speaking, Mrs. Temitope Okunnu, Head of Foundation for a Better Environment, FABE, urged farmers to use “natural composite and pesticides as a better alternative to preserve the soil and human health.”

Mrs. Omogoriola Beckley, representing Mrs. Oluyemi Kalesanwo, Perm Sec., Lagos State Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, WAPA, said the training would greatly enrich their farming process.

Mrs. Aminat Shabi, a beneficiary, said the capacity building had taught them guidelines on the farming process to manage the challenges of climate change and appealed to the conveners to make the training quarterly or three times a year.

Sun/Shakirat Sadiq