Newsletter 5 (Official)

7/30/2019 Newsletter 5 (Official)

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provide tools women need for businesses.

Food preservation (canning, drying, etc.) is

lucrative business considering our nonexistentelectricity supply. Spice/ herb markets are virginmarkets as we depend largely on wild plantsand the few home-farmed vegetables. ManyAfricans in the West rely on Asian stores fortheir spices and condiments. Women can learnabout the cultivation and uses of local herbs

d th h ti t l l

CEOElsie Ijorogu Reed

Guest WritersDr. Tony Egba,

Technical Adviser to the Minister of

Agriculture and Rural Development, Nigeria

Regular ContributorsAchilla Imchen, Ifeoma Agumanu, Oby Madukoma,Rohit Kumar, Stephanie Smith

P d Editi

T

he

DeltaWomenNewsletterNovember Issue


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d th h ti t l lProong and Editing

Both women and men play critical roles in

agriculture throughout the world, producing,processing and providing the food we eat. Ruralwomen in particular are responsible for halfof the worlds food production and producebetween 60 and 80 percent of the food inmost developing countries. Yet, despite theircontribution to global food security, womenfarmers are frequently underestimated and

overlooked in development strategies.

Women around the world are engaged in a widerange of agricultural activities including:Selecting and conserving germplasm; breeding;saving seed; preparing land; weeding;controlling pests; harvesting; threshing; postharvest processing; livestock management;animal health; animal breeding; foddercollection; rewood collection; water extraction

and carrying; tree planting; harvesting andprocessing forest products; food and remedypreparation; marketing etc.

Appropriate Technological Empowerment of

women in Agriculture

The term agricultural technologies was takenin its broadest meaning covering all the possibletechnologies related to agriculture. Thisincluded mechanical tools commonly referred toin the eld, new seed varieties, land and crop

management practices, and harvest and postharvest processing tools. Also included were thenewer technologies such as biotechnology,information and communication technologies,remote sensing, GIS and GPS. The extent to

which all these technologies are applicable orneeded and used by rural women in agriculturalactivities will vary with biophysical and socio-

economic contexts some have never been usedbut are just beginning to show their potential.

Rural women are the main producers of the

worlds staple crops cassava, sorghum, rice,wheat, maize - which provide up to 90 percent ofthe rural poors food intake. Women sow, weed,apply fertilizer and pesticides, harvest and threshthe crops. Their contribution to secondary cropproduction, such as legumes and vegetables,is even greater. Grown mainly in home gardens,these crops provide essential nutrients and are

Mankind United to Support Total Education

(MUSTE) Undergraduate Scholarships for

Nigerian Students 2013

Rivers State, Nigeria: Governor Rotimi Amaechi

to enforce free education in 2013

China-Nigeria bilateral relations on going

Nov. 13, 2012 Katsina Govt. approves N442mn

for poverty alleviation

Poverty alleviation: Kano gives 88,000 women

N10,000 each to mitigate poverty

Kogi State Community and Social Development

Agency (KGCSDA) Poverty Alleviation (closingDec 2013)

Nigeria to invest N 880.9 bn in energy

projects until 2013: This is expected to beachieved through signicant investment in rural

electrication programme that will facilitate

the expansion of transmission and distribution

lines to a majority of rural Nigeria, It states thatalternative energy technology will be developedfrom coal and other renewable energy sources,

such as solar, wind and biomass, especially forthe electrication of rural communities

USAID/NIGERIA STRATEGY 2010 2013

African Union of the Blind (AfUB) Youth

Empowernment Project in Lagos-Nigeria 2011-2013.

NAB/MTN Foundation scholarship for Visually

Impaired Students in Tertiary institution 2012-On going

AfUB and NAB HIV/AIDS and Sexual

Reproductive Health Program in South-West

Nigeria. 2012-2013 (Public Relations OfcerNigeria Association of the Blind Tel: +234-8055056840. [email protected])

Dangote spends N430m on ood victims,

women empowerment in Kogi - He said

N50million worth of foodstuff and relief materialswould be donated, while N150million would begiven in cash. He also said N230million would

be distributed to women to boost economicactivities in the state.

By Ifeoma Adukanu

News relevant for poverty

alleviation in Nigeria

Women In Agriculture Food

Security

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32

The Delta region should be the wealthiest statein Nigeria. Oil exports have brought billions of

naira to the country, yet this money has beencontinually squandered away by corrupt ofcials

and ineffective projects. One such project withOMPADEC was suppose to reduce poverty inthe oil producing regions, but the $300 millionearmarked for the project disappeared into thehands of contractors who did not completetheir work. Young people and the environmenthave suffered greatly as a result. Some 70% ofNigerias population supports themselves on

less than 158 naira a day. This trend needs tochange, now more than ever.

Current Projects

Current projects and strategies look promising.

The Nigerian government has an ambitious planto reduce poverty by 36% over the next 15 years.

This will be done by increasing adult literacy by20% and increasing primary school enrolmentto 100%. As mentioned in our Septembernewsletter, education is the key to eradicatingmalnutrition, and insuring a healthy and a longerliving populace. In addition, the governmenthopes to change the structure of various NGOsfrom a top-down to bottom-up. Frequentlydevelopment projects have stagnated waitingfor the approval of one overburdened president

Poverty Alleviation Projects

in the Delta State

or manager. This new bottom-up structure willdivide responsibilities and power among severalpeople, allowing for projects to move forward.Finally, youth inactivity has created many socialissues, so the Nigerian government plans tocreate 200 000 new jobs for youth over the next

several years.

Grameem Bank is a NGO that provides

small loans with reduced credit to aspiringentrepreneurs to start up a new business. Thisproject has already been operating in some ruralparts of Nigeria with some success. Bosede

Ogunleye who took part in this project wentfrom earning 26 cents/day selling satchels ofwater to owning a small meat shop where shesells frozen meat and sh. With her new income

she is now able to send her children to schooland need not worry about where their next meal

will come from.

Future Development Projects

For the future, the Delta region needs to seean increase in the amount of small loans fromNGOs like Grameem and local banks foraspiring entrepreneurs to insure more can reapthe benets of these projects. In addition, there

should be more funding via the government orNGOs to these small business owners so thatthey can hire more staff. Not everyone has thecreativity or determination to start up their ownbusiness, but there are many who would like towork. Such grants already exist in Canada and

other countries and have proven quite effective.In addition, having youth more involved in thecommunity at a younger age would cut backon the social problems that have developedas a result of inactivity. This could be done bymaking it so students must complete a certainamount of either work or volunteer experience

before they can complete high school.

By Stephanie Smith
http://www.deltawomen.org/http://www.deltawomen.org/http://www.deltawomen.org/http://www.deltawomen.org/


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often the only food available during the leanseasons or if the main harvest fails. Womensspecialized knowledge about genetic resourcesfor food and agriculture makes them essentialagro-diversity.

In the livestock sector, women feed and milkthe larger animals, while raising poultry andsmall animals such as sheep, goats, rabbitsand guinea pigs. Also, once the harvest is in,rural women provide most of the labour forpost-harvest activities, taking responsibility forstorage, handling, stocking, processing andmarketing.

Although rural women are assuming anincreasingly prominent role in agriculture, theyremain among the most disadvantaged ofpopulations. War, the rural-to-urban migrationof men in search of paid employment and risingmortalities attributed to HIV/AIDS has led to a rise

in the numbers of female-headed households inthe developing world.

This feminization of agriculture has placed aconsiderable burden on womens capacity to

produce, provide, and prepare food in the faceof already considerable obstacles

FAO studies demonstrate that while women inmost developing countries are the mainstayof agricultural sectors, the farm labour forceand food systems (and day-to-day familysubsistence), they have been the last to benet

from - or in some cases have been negativelyaffected by - prevailing economic growth anddevelopment processes.

Gender bias and gender blindness persist:farmers are still generally perceived as maleby policy-makers, development planners andagricultural service deliverers. For this reason,women nd it more difcult than men to gain

access to valuable resources such as land, creditand agricultural inputs, technology, extension,

training and services that would enhance theirproduction capacity.

Despite the fact that women are the worldsprincipal food producers and providers, theyremain invisible partners in development. A lackof available gender disaggregated data means

that womens contribution to agriculturein particular is poorly understood and theirspecic needs ignored in development planning.

This extends to matters as basic as the design

of farm tools. But womens full potential in

agriculture must be realized if the goal of the1996 World Food Summit - to halve the numberof hungry people in the world by 2015 - is to beachieved.

Empowerment of women is key to raisinglevels of nutrition, improving the production anddistribution of food and agricultural productsand enhancing the living conditions of ruralpopulations.

Areas for action

In most developing countries, both men andwomen farmers do not have access to adequateresources, but womens access is even moreconstrained as a result of cultural, traditionaland sociological factors. Accurate informationabout mens and womens relative access to,and control over, resources is crucial in the

development of food security strategies.

Food Security, at the individual, household,

national, regional, and global levels [is

achieved] when all people, at all times, have

physical, social, and economic access to

sufcient, safe, and nutritious food to meet

their dietary needs and food preferences for

a healthy and active life. FAO (2001)

Creative and Gender friendly ways of

addressing the critical factors that affect

agricultural production and productivity

that ensure food security as dened by FOA

should be pursue by all African countries.

Some of this factors are listed below;

Access to land

Ownership of land encourages farmers to investtime and resources in long-term improvementsand facilitates access to agricultural supportservices. Inheritance and land tenure laws limitwomens ownership and use of land.

Access to creditShort- and long-term credit is needed to pay for

www.deltawomen.org [email protected] [email protected]

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inputs and hired labour. In the developing world,banks and credit associations are less inclinedto lend to women because, without propertyand land rights, they lack collateral.

Access to agricultural inputs

Improved seeds, fertilizers and pesticides are avital means of enhancing production. Extension

services and cooperatives distributing inputsrarely reach women who also lack the necessarycash to purchase even government-subsidizedinputs.

Access to extension and training

Agricultural extension program inform farmers

about new technologies and plant varieties. Fewextension services are targeted at rural women,

few of the worlds extension agents are women

and most of the extension services focus on

commercial rather than subsistence crops - theprimary concern of women.

Access to education

Investing in human capital reduces povertyand encourages sustainable economic growth.But prevailing attitudes about womens social,

political and cultural rights severely limit girlsaccess to education throughout the developingworld.

Access to technology

Labour-saving technologies are important meansof increasing production and improving peoplesquality of life. But the needs and priorities of

women are rarely considered in the research

and development of agricultural technology.Access to rural organizations

Agricultural cooperatives and farmersorganizations help members obtain resourcesand represent members interests beforegovernment.

However common prerequisite for membership

of these rural organizations in some partof African countries is, very often, head ofhousehold status or land ownership, whichapplies solely to men.

Access to services

Services such as transport and market facilitieshelp farmers expand their income-generating

activities. Although women have a role in thetrading of goods and the food they produce,illiteracy and lack of legal rights prevent themfrom joining formal service institutions

Recently, the Minister for Agriculture of

Nigeria, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina is addressing

this critical productivity factors by building

crops value chains and creating farmersdata bank through the registration of all

farmers without gender discriminations.

Every farmers registered will receive growth

enhancement support (GES) in form of

improved seeds, seedlings and agro chemical

inputs fertilizer.

By Dr. Tony Egba(Technical Adviser to the Minister of Agriculture

and Rural Development, Nigeria)

Womens economic independence is centralto their empowerment in many areas of theirlives, including health, education, and theirfutures. In Nigeria, women networks have thepotential to play a critical role in their economicindependence in key development sectors.

Proving an overall assessment on the impactof women networks in Nigeria is not possiblewithout in-depth analyses, given the diversityof the sectors involve. However, there is no

doubt that networks and collective action canopen diverse pathways to womens livelihoods

and empowerment, including access to funding,training, and even highlighting issues at agovernmental policy level.

In the area of agriculture and rural development,for example, though many women in Nigeria

Economic empowerment and

the importance of networks


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are involved in subsistence agriculture, men stillform the majority of land owners. Only 7.2% ofwomen own the land they farm, and without landtitle, it is hard for women to raise money theyneed to start productive enterprises. Analyseson women empowerment have identied

networking and building coalitions as a resourcefor tackling such systemic gendered concerns.

Agricultural networks, for example, could aid in

not only seeking funds from government, butalso in establishing training centres in rural areasfor women to learn use of modern agriculturaltools. Women can also form agricultural workercollectives to pool resources and collectivelyacquire land and modern tools for farming.Organisations such as the Nigerian WomenFarmers Association, and women involvedin market associations could in turn serveas knowledge resources in the designing ofinitiatives to support women entrepreneurs.

In the formal sector, where women run only20% of enterprises, networking is equallyimportant. Nigeria also has one of the lowestrates of female entrepreneurship in sub-Saharan

Africa. Networks can aid in building capacities

for training, learning skills for informationtechnology and increasing membership, andother skills related to improving businesses.Highlighting the importance of networking to

women themselves, however, appears to bemuch-needed factor in this sector. In a recentinterview, Mrs. Lola Okanlawon, the Presidentof the Network of Entrepreneurial Women,identied that women tend not to appreciate

the importance of networking and what they canachieve by networking with the right persons.Okanlawon urges that the ability to sell yourbusiness is also a function of proper networking.So, why say that you are shy, whereas you wantyour business to succeed? As an entrepreneur,you must go out there and network withclients: tell them what you do and do not lookdown on anyone. The stronger and larger thenetwork -- in which ever sector (agriculture,manufacturing etc) -- the better the chances ofnetworks obtaining international assistance toaid members.

References:

1. British Council 2012. Gender in Nigeria Report

2012: Improving the Lives of Women and Girls inNigeria.2. Adedotun Eyinade 2010. Women andParticipation in Nigeria: the Imperative ofEmpowerment. Issue 295, December.3. Ibid.

4. Punch July 2012. Poor networking, baneof women entrepreneurial development President, NNEW, http://www.punchng.com/business/poor-networking-bane-of-women-entrepreneurial-development-president-nnew/

By Achilla Imchen

Campaign Round UpNO WOMAN LEFT BEHIND

FREE EYE TEST

At Delta women NGO, we see ourselves as a partner for progress to our women. We work withthem to discover their unique abilities, talents and potentials. Our drive is to build in our women

the essential skills required to do business in a world class way, making them creators of their owndestiny and pillars of transformation in our society. The NO WOMAN LEFT BEHIND campaign

needs YOUR support. Help Deltawomen by providing women the Technical and Vocational Skills

Acquisition to overcome the challenges in todays world so that they can be useful to themselvesrather than be used as agents of violence.

The Deltawomen Eye-Care Campaign in the Delta State serves to provide free glasses and eyecheck-ups. Our upcoming free eye test is going to be held on the 29th of December in Igbanke,Edo State, Nigeria.

DELTAWOMEN WINS THE UN VOLUNTEERING

AWARD!With the blog as well as the Delta Womens Facebook group to ght to end sexual harassment,

which has about 14,000 members, Kirthi created platforms through which Delta Women connectswith beneciaries and policy makers, brings together like-minded individuals to exchange ideas

and information, and raises awareness of womens rights. During the Abia University rape, we

used social networking to bring the news to the forefront and force reaction from the authorities,says Elsie Reed.

Kirthi, whose responsibilities encompass coordinating the contributions of other online volunteers,says: We are a very united team. I have made friends across the world. I think the biggest strengthlies in the fact that were globally placed. Each of us in the volunteering team is allowed to work onan activity that tangibly affects an on-eld activity.

We have seen a real impact in the form of awareness expansion, concludes Elsie. People have

been encouraged to speak out, privately and publicly, and through this, they educate themselvesand their families and friends. People come back to us and tell us how their lives have changedbecause of the information we offer them, because of the help we give them. People have told ushow they averted greater danger in their lives with the good help of knowledge. Women in the DeltaState have also contacted us when they suffered harassment or rape. We are like a go to for thosein need.

WELCOME, NEW VOLUNTEERSDeltawomen welcomes 10 new volunteers, who join our team this month to work on our variousprojects.

Documents

Newsletter 5 (Official)