UNIPORT Lecturer Calls for Gender-Based Agricultural Policies

By Bon Peters

A lecturer at the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT), Rivers State, Dr Clara Ifeanyi-Obi, has called on the government and policymakers in Nigeria to initiate gender-based agricultural policies to encourage more women’s involvement in agricultural activities.

The don submitted that initiating such gender-based policies would boost efforts to tackle challenges resulting from climate change, which is fast threatening food security.

Ms Ifeanyi-Obi, a senior lecturer at the Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension at the institution, pushed for this argument at the monthly congress of the Organisation for Women in Science for a Developing World on Friday in Port Harcourt.

Speaking as a guest lecturer at the congress, she reviewed the status of gender in climate change-related policies in the African agricultural sector, particularly in Nigeria, Kenya, and Malawi.

According to her, women constitute more than 60 per cent of the farming population in Nigeria “but have continued to suffer various forms of deprivation that have grossly affected them in terms of productivity.”

The lecturer outlined measures towards improving awareness of climate change-related policies in the African agricultural sector as well as access to funding for women farmers.

She noted that effective collaboration with climate-based agencies such as the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMET) and climate-adaptive varieties would help reduce vulnerability to drought, flood, pests, diseases, and other climate-related risks threatening the agriculture value chain.

“The Gender Responsive Agricultural System Policy (GRASP) Fellowship is a career development programme that targets mid-career African women in the policy field to catalyse the design and implementation of gender responsive agricultural policies across Africa.

“Funded by the United Agency for International Development (USAID), the fellowship is implemented by African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD).

“It is, therefore, necessary that findings and climate change-related projections by credible researchers be incorporated in government budgetary development to empower women in the agri-business subsector,” Ms Ifeanyi-Obi said.