Female farmers in the country are struggling for survival in the midst of their male counterparts who have greater advantage over them.
Their major challenge, according to Mrs Bola Ijeoma, a female farmer, is access to land.
Mrs Ijeoma, who is the chairman, Edo State Rice Farmers Association, said “In some areas, land is not given to women, it is the men that take the land and give to the women”.
She said as a result of the development, the women have to hire land for farming, which affects their expansion and yields.
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“As women, we have limited access to training and workshops which are more open to the men and this contribute to the low knowledge of the farming processes on the part of the female farmers,” she explained.
She said due to lack of training, many female farmers are not abreast with the climate change, which is now becoming a challenge because the normal period for planting is changing and if one does not take notice of it and plant with the trend, he or she may end up losing crops.
She said the house chores on the women which they combine with the farming is challenging for them.
“Let me use myself as a case study, I have many responsibilities. I have to take care of the home, husband, children and household and this make it difficult for us the women to manage farm work,” she said.
Continuing, she said inputs have become a great challenge to women farmers, noting that they don’t have access to inputs given by governments at all levels.
“Government is giving us, farmers, inputs but the middle men are the problem because they always divert the items.
“I am buying a 50kg bag of hybrid rice for planting at the cost of N45,000 and it wouldn’t be enough for an acre, you can imagine that”, she said.
She explained that they also have the challenge of birds that always eat up the grains before they mature for harvest, thereby leading to low productivity.
“Also, getting labour to work on farms is somehow difficult, but I employed a standby person from Jos, Plateau State, who I am paying salary. I contract other boys to work with him when the work load is too much.
“On a daily basis, I pay a labourer N3,500, but if you engage them for an acre, it is N22,000 and you will also provide them food for the period of clearing,” she added.
Ijeoma, who is also into maize and cucumber farming, called on the government to make mechanisation available to women, who she said are finding it difficult to hire tractors.
“Those that have money use mechanisation, sometimes if I have money, I hire a tractor to do an acre for me at the cost of N35,000,” she said.
She said the productive level is good but sometimes, birds and lack of security affect high yields.
“We hire boys to drive birds from our farms. If I can’t get someone to drive the bird, I use net to cover the rice against the birds,” she added.
She further stated that there was a time she lost half of an acre of rice farm to birds when armed robbers stole the net from her farm.
“Apart from stealing, insecurity is a problem, as women are always afraid of meeting hoodlums on the farm,” she explained.
She lamented that the female farmers are not given special consideration as they have to do everything on their own.
She said, “As a female farmer, I have not received inputs, specifically meant for female farmers. This also applies to other women farmers. We are supposed to be given special consideration because of the challenges we face, but that is not there. We are not also considered in accessing loan.
“If women farmers get a little push, it will help them to boost production.”
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