• Home
  • Anti-Corruption
  • Fact-Check
  • Economy
  • National
    • Government
  • Security
  • Features
  • State
  • Event
Sign in
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Password recovery
Recover your password
Search
  • Home
  • About
  • Adverts
  • Contact
Sign in
Welcome! Log into your account
Forgot your password? Get help
Password recovery
Recover your password
A password will be e-mailed to you.
PRNIGERIA PRNigeria News
PRNIGERIA PRNIGERIA
  • Home
  • Anti-Corruption
    • CISLAC boss, Musa Rafsanjani

      Nigeria Ranks 150 in 2022 Transparency International Corruption Index

      Prof Ojerinde Jamb

      Alleged N10bn Fraud: Ex-JAMB Registrar, Ojerinde, Re-Arrested in Abuja

      court Judiciary

      Court Lifts Forfeiture on Ekweremadu’s 40 properties, Lambasts EFCC for Concealing…

      EFCC Charges Youths to Brace Up for National Development

      Okupe’s Arrest: DSS Acted on Old Alarm – EFCC

  • Fact-Check
  • Economy
    • Fragile Borders Fuel Terrorism, Economic Sabotage, Buhari tells WCO Delegation

      2023 Elections: Lawyers Must Play Leading Role in Making Best Choice…

      FACT-CHECK:  Were Trucks Loaded with Old Naira Notes ‘Belonging to Tinubu’…

      FACT-CHECK: Did CBN Extend Deadline for Old Naira Notes to July…

      DSS Operatives

      DSS Trains Operatives on Public Relations Strategies

  • National
    • FRSC Appoints DCMs, Promotes 3628 other Senior Officers

      Amidst New Naira Note Chaos, e-Naira Onboarding Reaches 3m

      FHA Confirms Building Collapse in Abuja, Four Persons Rescued

      2023 Elections: NBA Warns Judicial Officers, Lawyers against Unethical Practices

      CISLAC boss, Musa Rafsanjani

      Nigeria Ranks 150 in 2022 Transparency International Corruption Index

    • Government
      • Gowon Optimistic Buhari ‘ll Assent NYSC Trust Fund Bill

        Why I Re-Appointed Kashifu Inuwa as NITDA Director General – Buhari

        Fragile Borders Fuel Terrorism, Economic Sabotage, Buhari tells WCO Delegation

        Yemi-Esan Receives ISO 9001:2015 Certificate for OHCSF

        Nasir Kwarra Chairman National Population Commission NPC

        Nigeria Population: Finally, NPC Fixes Dates for Nationwide Census 2023

  • Security
    • NDLEA Intercepts Drug Consignments at Lagos Airport, Arrests Pregnant Woman, School…

      Nigeria Police Force Logo

      PSC Appoints Hafiz Inuwa, Ali Janga and Adeleke Bode Police DIGs,…

      NAF Chief Commissions Female Hostel at Airforce Institute

      41 Killed as Terrorists, Outlawed Militia Clash in Katsina

      Police Boss IGP Alkali Usman Baba

      Sale, Abuse of Naira: IGP Orders Prosecution of Violators

  • Features
    • Slain bandits' leader, Dogo Gide

      Nigeria’s Banditry – How it all started

      Bola Tinubu

      Mr. President, You owe Tinubu more than this……By Abdullahi O.Haruna Haruspice

      CP Sadiq Abubakar: The Sheriff of FCT Police Command

      INEC

      INSECURITY: How Safe is Nigeria for 2023 Polls? By MUKHTAR Ya’u…

      Police Boss IGP Alkali Usman Baba

      General Elections: IGP Tasks Officers on Professionalism, Neutrality

  • State
    • Salihu Mustafha

      Kwara APC Senatorial Candidate Pledges to Sponsor Bills Defending Labour Laws

      DG, FCT Emergency Management Agency, Abbas IDris

      FCTA Introduces ‘Emergency Marshals’ to Avert Hazard in Abuja

      EFCC Denies Grilling Mustapha, Kwara APC Senatorial Candidate

      Buhari inaugurates Reference Hospital, Massive Projects Constructed by Gov Yahaya Bello…

      PSC Suspends ASP Drambi Vandi over Death of Female Lawyer

  • Event
    • 12 Things you Should Know about Armed Forces Remembrance Day in…

      Buk 92 Class 30th Anniversary

      PHOTOS: WhatsApp Reunites BUK 92 Class After 30 Years… As Old…

      Nigerian Navy Charges Personnel On Discipline, Professionalism

      President Buhari Hails CDI Gen Samuel Adebayo on Defence Intelligence, Staff…

      At Ceremonial Sunset, Naval Chief Honours Officers who Freed 250 Abducted…

    Farming: Agri-Tech Cushioning COVID-19 Disruption but Rural Women Yearns for Access

    By
    Mohammed Dahiru Lawal, Prnigeria
    -
    August 3, 2021
    Women farmers constitute over 60% of the agriculture work force and provide inputs and functions that are critical to food security

    Farming: Agri-Tech Cushioning COVID-19 Disruption but Rural Women Yearns for Access

    In Nigeria, women farmers constitute over 60% of the agriculture work force and provide inputs and functions that are critical to food security, all of which were disrupted by a global pandemic that took the world by storm – the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Beyond the negative way it touched farming activities, less than 20% of women farmers interviewed have accessed agricultural assets, most of which are mitigation packages announced by government to cushion effect following the ease on lockdowns.

    “COVI-19 practically dealt us an extremely hard blow, movement restrictions prevented us from having access to our fields, lack of storage facilities caused our perishable products to damage completely thereby causing us an excruciating loss in income. Lack of good roads to even access the market made everything worse even when lockdowns started to ease,” said Wasila Mohammed (not real name), a 22yr-old Student of Kano State School of Nursing and Midwifery who uses proceeds from her Zakirai rice and tomatoe farm in Gabasawa Local Government Area of Kano state, to pave her way through school.

    “My father is late; I use the proceeds from my farm to support my mother and siblings. We feed on some parts of the harvest, cater for our needs and I even pave my way through school with it, but during the pandemic, we all went through hell, no money or food to eat,” she narrated further.

    According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), agriculture being the sector with the largest employer of labour in the country, provide jobs for more than one‐third (34.65 percent) of the Nigerian labour force.

    Among this labour force, women carry out about 80% of agricultural production, 60% of agricultural processing activities and 50% of animal husbandry and related activities.

    Most women have suffered disproportionately as the COVID-19 pandemic worsened existing structural economic, social, and technological inequalities in the society.

    In addition to their loss of income, farmers must deal with increasing prices for agricultural inputs such as fertilizers, herbicides and seedlings because the lockdown also affected the import and transportation of such goods.

    The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic restricted normal execution of agricultural extension services and movement of agricultural produce to markets.

    Even though the government announced mitigating measures, these often have meant very little in the lives of small-scale women farmers.

    “Soon after reports about the negative impacts of movement restrictions on agriculture made it into the public, the federal government declared agriculture an essential service that should be allowed to operate freely. The Ministry of Agriculture and other relevant government agencies started to issue clearance passes, but these never reached small-scale farmers. Government extension workers, who could potentially have distributed them, were nowhere to be found during the lockdown period,” said Mary Afan, president of the Small-Scale Women Farmers Organisation in Nigeria (SWOFON).

    Recent times have witnessed a rise in agricultural technology that does not only target the source, but also the agricultural value chain in terms of production, processing and marketing that will change, transform, and increase productivity, but rural women are not getting the much-needed access to these inputs either due to cost implication or technical know-how.

    Most of the women farmers interviewed in Kura, Garin Mallam, Chiromawa, Dambatta, Gezawa, Gabasawa, Bagwai, Shanono and Karaye Local Government Area of Kano State have not received any form of support through government schemes to boost their farming especially in training and agro-tech inputs especially as agri-tech may not only serve in cushioning the effect of COVID-19 alone but also that of Climate Change on the farming environment.

    “Some of us use our children, brothers, and relatives as manpower, to cultivate while those with little financial capacity, employ labour for the hard tasks. Even so, the effect of climate change is still telling, especially on the farmlands of those who could not afford constant irrigation when the rain is scarce,” Huraira, a small-scale farmer in Dambatta.

    Speaking on the matter, Dr. Nafiu Bala Sanda, an Agricultural Etymologist in the Department of Crop Protection, Bayero University Kano, said the solutions to some of this myriad of challenges lies in agritech.

    But, Professor Sani Miko, the Country Director, SAA Global 2000, while speaking on understanding new agricultural technologies and their impact towards productivity enhancement opines that, “Whether it is machinery, fertilizer, hired labour, alot of the farmers may know the tech is good but if it is expensive, they will not be able to buy it. So, affordability is key.”

    However, Dr. Sanda is of the view that the current Federal Administration has done much in terms of farming inputs but blames human factor for boycotting the end beneficiaries.

    “Do you know that even village heads connive with politicians to collect inputs in the name of end beneficiaries and then divert it? That is why it’s not surprising when these women are not getting the inputs they should especially from the federal government,” he lamented.

    As for climate change, he thinks agro-tech has come to the rescue as there are green houses that enables farming in a protected environment with all productive parameters fully automated especially temperature control, relative humidity and even software’s fully calibrated to tell the history of soil fertility.

    “Government should start looking that way especially of we must support our women who are in any case the main drivers of smallholder farming. Technology is equating gender it depends on purpose and those ready to do the job,” he said.

    Similarly, a lecturer with the Department of Information and Media Studies, Bayero University Kano, Dr. Rukayyah Aliyu Yusuf, has tasked Journalists to set a reporting agenda towards the adoption and use of Technology by farmers.

    She spoke during a one-day expert/stakeholders meeting themed: Social and Behavioral Change Communication for Technology Adoption by Rice, Wheat and Tomato Farmers in Kano, held September last year at the Grand Central Hotel Kano.

    According to Dr. Rukayyah, who presented a paper titled the Media and Public Enlightenment on Innovations: What Journalists Should do to Improve Uptake of the Farming Technology by Kano Farmers, Journalist to do human angle stories that will motivate farmers to adopt new technologies in rice, wheat and tomato farming.

    “This is a collective responsibility and while communicating these stories, Journalists should emphasise it’s simplicity and necessity.” She said.

    Some of the new technologies currently in use include the Urea Deep Placement Technology, UDP, for improvement of nitrogen fertilization in irrigated rice system, the Urea Super Granules, USG, Rice destoning, milling and packaging equipment, mechanical harvesting and threshing equipment among others.

    This article is part of Covid-19 Response: Together for Reliable Information project implemented by PAGED Initiative supported by the EU & FreePress Unlimited.

    today's nigerian newspapers

    Kidnapped School Children

    Yauri FGC Students, Kebbi
    598 days 44 minutes 23 seconds,

    Baptist School Students, Kaduna
    580 days 2 hours 25 minutes 48 seconds

    Tegina Islamiya Pupils, Niger (Freed)
    Spent 88 days from May 30, 2021 - August 26, 2021


    Report By: PRNigeria.com

     
    VISIT OUR OTHER WEBSITES
    PRNigeria.com EconomicConfidential.com PRNigeria.com/Hausa
    EmergencyDigest.com PoliticsDigest.ng TechDigest.ng
    HealthDigest.ng SpokesPersonsdigest.com TeensDigest.ng
    ArewaAgenda.com Hausa.ArewaAgenda.com YAShuaib.com
    • TAGS
    • Agri-tech
    • Agriculture
    • Covid-19
    • International Labour Organization
    • Kano state
    • prnigeria
    • Women Farmers
    Previous articleIPOB/ESN Fighters Nabbed after Attacking Omuma, Njaba Police Stations
    Next articleDCP Tunji Disu Replaced Abba Kyari as Head of Police Intelligence Response Team
    Mohammed Dahiru Lawal, Prnigeria

    RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

    NDLEA Intercepts Drug Consignments at Lagos Airport, Arrests Pregnant Woman, School Teacher

    Nigeria Police Force Logo

    PSC Appoints Hafiz Inuwa, Ali Janga and Adeleke Bode Police DIGs, Promotes CPs, DCPs

    NAF Chief Commissions Female Hostel at Airforce Institute

    MURIC to Adebanjo: Is Presidency the Birthright of Only Southern Christians?

    2023 Elections: Tinubu Loves Nigeria, elect him as the Next President – Buhari

    New Naira: MACBAN Warns CBN over Plights of Herders, Farmers who have no Bank Accounts

    41 Killed as Terrorists, Outlawed Militia Clash in Katsina

    Police Boss IGP Alkali Usman Baba

    Sale, Abuse of Naira: IGP Orders Prosecution of Violators

    Gowon Optimistic Buhari ‘ll Assent NYSC Trust Fund Bill

    NSCDC, NEMA Sign MoU on Inter-Agency Collaboration, Disaster Management

    Why I Re-Appointed Kashifu Inuwa as NITDA Director General – Buhari

    police

    Police Avert Arsonists’ Attack on Anti-cult Formation in Anambra

    • Home
    • About
    • Adverts
    • Contact
    © 2020 PRNigeria. All Rights Reserved.
    X whatsapp