The Kaduna State Agricultural Development Agency (KADA), has called for proper mainstreaming of women in agriculture, saying empowering them in the sector is not an abomination as perceived by some Africans.
The General Manager of KADA, Dr. Abubakar Bayero, stated this on the sidelines of a one-day validation meeting on the draft report of gender situation analysis, organised by the Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa’s gender consortium, in collaboration with the Kaduna State Ministry of Agriculture.
Bayero noted that from time immemorial, women had been deprived of having access to land and other available community resources, noting that the situation is even worse in Africa.
His words: “In most communities, most of these women are the breadwinners and, with the inflation we have at hand, the salary of husbands alone cannot take care of the needs of the families.
“So, empowering women is not an abomination. They need to be empowered to support their husbands. Due to several circumstances, we have more widows than widowers and some left their wives and children behind while a lot of these women are not doing anything to sustain the home.
“So, if they are empowered, it is like empowering yourself as a husband. She will offer support when you are there and also when you are not there, she will take care of the education of the children so they can live like normal Nigerians.”
Speaking on the draft report, Bayero said the state will utilise the report to engage stakeholders in agricultural planning and implementation.
On her part, the Coordinator, AGRA Gender Consortium in the state, Mrs. Hannatu Ahuwan, informed that the validation meeting was a part of work the consortium had been doing together with the state ministry to have a gender policy in agriculture.
She said, “For us in Kaduna State, we are here today to validate the structural analysis report that was commissioned to understand the situation in the state regarding agriculture.
“This is important because even if we want to domesticate the gender policy, we cannot take it verbatim. What this report has done is to talk to different stakeholders, including the government, private sector, youths, people with disability, the aged, rural dwellers, and other individuals to know what is the policy the government put in place, and how is this policy helping the people.
“Now the validation is to bring different stakeholders together to look at the report holistically and see whether there are gaps to be captured because this report is what is going to inform the development of the Kaduna state policy in agriculture.
“When we have a deliberate policy in place, it will help to guide the government or other organisations or individuals in terms of budgeting and implementation which will, in the long run, ensure that all the groups that matter benefit and we have food security.”
The post Proper Mainstreaming of Women in Agriculture not Abomination – KADA first appeared on AgroNigeria.
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