Rural women farmers in the ECOWAS region have been tasked to join forces and address issues affecting the growth of their farming activities.
The farmers were entreated to strengthen advocacy towards building their capacity to better their livelihood and contribute to food security.
At the Annual Assembly of Rural Women Farmers Forum (RWFF) and Kilimanjaro Initiative (KILI) in Abuja, Nigeria, it was observed that women farmers in the sub-region are mostly challenged with access to land and machinery for mechanization.
Women make up more than half of the agricultural labour force in Africa.
They play a major role in the production, processing and marketing of agricultural produce across the continent.
Yet, women farmers have over the years been neglected by governments at sub-regional level.
Some of them continue to wallow in abject poverty despite their role in contributing to ending poverty and hunger.
In view of this, ActionAid and Oxfam International together with some Civil Society Organizations have stepped up effort to help address challenges faced by women farmers in Africa.
The CSOs have created a platform for the farmers to come under one umbrella, build their capacities, and give them voice to interface with duty bearers and advocate for what is due them.
Groups like the Rural Women Farmers Forum and the Kilimanjaro Initiative among others were formed to identify the needs of women farmers and draw up action plan for intervention.
Addressing participants at the RWFF/KILI Assembly Meeting, project manager in-charge of Public Finance of Agriculture at ActionAid International, Constance Okeke charged women farmers not to allow themselves to be left behind.
She advised them to adopt new technologies and training to be able to build resilience in the face of climate change.
Around the world, over 700 million people suffer from hunger.
The women farmers say that number could be significantly reduced if they had the same rights and resources as their male counterparts, and were empowered to contribute fully to the food system.
To eradicate hunger, malnutrition, poverty and empower women economically by 2030 in line with the Sustainable Development Goals 1, 2 and 5, government and other stakeholders including the private sector must invest massively in the agricultural sector prioritising women farmers.
The RWFF/KILI Annual Assembly Meeting afforded the participants the opportunity to discuss concerns of women farmers and the way forward in addressing them and achieving food security.
A 7-member committee, chaired by Zainab Isah from Nigeria, was later inaugurated under the name African Kilimanjaro Women Farmers Forum (AKiWoFF).
The committee which has representatives from different countries is expected to steer the affairs of women farmers within the 15 ECOWAS member states.
By Ibrahim Abubakar/3news.com/Nigeria