Modernizing small holder agriculture to ensure food security and gender empowerment: issues and policy

The study examines strategies adopted to increase agricultural growth and improve food security in Nigeria by empowering women engaged in agricultural activities. Initiatives to empower women have largely failed since they have not been supported by appropriate technologies. Women’s effective participation is further constrained by limited access to land, capital and education. Urban agriculture faces similar problems as the rural sector. In addressing agricultural growth and food security, the issue of communal/religious crises must also be addressed.Despite massive government investments in agricultural production in Nigeria, food production and productivity have not increased. Constraints on the agricultural production include:lack of appropriate machineries and/or the implements to facilitate their usagegender insensitive machineries that are inaccessible to most womenfailure to empower womenlack of appropriate skills and education, training and extension services, preventing the utilisation of improved technologieslimited access to funds for maintenance of machinerieslack of adequate storage facilitiesscarcity of land and inadequacy of land use arrangementsfrequent communal clashes, displacing farmers during the production processThe author nevertheless is optimistic about the prospects for increased agricultural production in Nigeria given:the abundant land resources for the production of crops, livestock and forestrylarge domestic and international markets for agricultural commoditieshigher prices for agricultural exports following trade liberalisationincreased demand for domestic products due to import bans on livestock products, maize, wheat and vegetable oilsempowerment for rural women through the government’s policy to reserve 30 percent of elective posts for women. This will require a comprehensive strategy to reduce the constraints outlined above. To empower farmers, cooperative societies should be formed to ensure access to credit.