******SWOFON Presents Score Card Findings On Smallholder Women Farmers Access To Agric Inputs In Delta
********Small-scale Women Farmers Demands Inputs To Address Hunger In Delta State
******””SWOFON, Agric Stakeholders, Commends ENVIRUMEDIC/ActionAid On Initiative To Boost Agric Production.
By Victor Bieni, Asaba
As part of efforts to ensuring improved and increased access to farm/agricultural inputs to smallholder farmers to boost agricultural production for food security, Small-scale Women Farmers Organization in Nigeria (SWOFON) in collaboration with Environmental and Rural Mediation Centre (ENVIRUMEDIC) a non-governmental organization with support from ActionAid Nigeria, has urged Delta State Ministry of Agriculture & Natural Resources and the State government to ensure inputs support to smallholder women farmers.
Victor Bieni Online Media Reports that, ENVIRUMEDIC led by its CEO, Monday Oghenerouna Itoghor made this remark July 17, 2024 at Orchid Hotel in Asaba, Delta State capital through his representatives; the Senior Program Officer, Mr. Lucky Enegide, Program Officer, Alex Okekporo during a one-day workshop as ENVIRUMEDIC with sponsorship from ActionAid presents Community Score Card on smallholder women farmers’ access to farm inputs or seedlings in Delta state with findings and recommendations to Delta State Ministry of Agriculture.
Agricultural inputs are fundamental prerequisite for farming. Without inputs there will not be agriculture. That is, the assessment was basically centred on inputs to smallholder women farmers from 2021-2023 in the state. The following Agricultural inputs were the major demands by farmers in the State. These are: Seed Yams, Cassava Cutting, Plantain Suckers, Fish Seed, Fertilizer (organic/chemical), Palm seedlings, Maize seedlings etcetera.
Recall that smallholder women farmers are the backbone of food production in the state as they are responsible for providing over 70% of the food we consume in the state according to findings. To this end, they are critical group in the food system. Also, ENVIRUMEDIC has stated that, the implementation of CSO’s initiative called: “Scaling Up Public Investment in Agriculture (SUPIA) Project” in Delta state is being supported by ActionAid Nigeria. The aim of the SUPIA Project is to catalyze increased quantity and improved quality of public investment in agriculture. That this will give enhancement to citizens’ participation in evidence-based policy making to increase the productivity and well-being of smallholder farmers. The project no doubt, has scaled up, supported the activities of SWOFON in the state.
ENVIRUMEDIC’s Scaling Up Public Investment in Agriculture (SUPIA) Project Program Officer, Mr. Alex Okekporo during the presentation of the findings of the assessment stated that, the Score card has the following objectives which are: To assess the Smallholder Women Farmers’ access to agricultural input in delta state, to provide information of smallholder women farmers’ rating/scoring on access to agricultural inputs to government officials, the media and the public; to engage policy makers at different levels towards increased investment and qualitative spending in agriculture that targets smallholder farmers especially women and to advocate for improved and increased access to agricultural Inputs and Services for smallholder women farmers.
He continued that the assessment used survey research design as methodology and the tool used was score card. The community Score card was used to collect data from respondents who are smallholder women farmers across the 25 LGAs of the State under the umbrella of Smallholder Women Farmers’ Organization of Nigeria (SWOFON). Dwelling on more analysis on the farmers’ access to inputs distribution, he stated that, data both primary and secondary data were used in the assessment. The primary data was from the questionnaire, and the secondary data was from the Delta State Ministry of Agriculture Budget.
Mr. Alex Okekporo who presented the findings of the assessment stated the following as some of the gaps identified among others: Non-involvement/inadequate consultation of smallholder women farmers in the design and implementation of the state input support programme; Inadequate quantity of input to smallholder women farmers; Lack of timely distribution of inputs to smallholder women farmers; Lack of distribution of farmers choice of inputs; Poor communication and information on input distribution plan and availability; Outright disregard of farmers needs and exclusion from the input support developmental programme; Diversion of input to non-farmers; Lack of accurate data of smallholder women farmers/farmers in the state.
Providing way-forward to the challenges as recommendations, Mr. Alex Okekporo has stated among others that, Delta State Ministry of Agriculture should ensure the involvement of smallholder women farmers in the planning and implementation of input support programs/initiatives; there should be aggressive awareness about the government input support programme and this could be done in local languages for farmers to be aware; there should be equity in the distribution of farm inputs across the state; there should be timely distribution of inputs to smallholder women farmers as agriculture is time bound due to lack of irrigation facilities in the state; the Ministry should carryout need assessment to know what input the farmers need; Input distribution should be brought closer to farmers location for easy collection and data of farmers especially smallholder women farmers should be available and constantly updated for ease of planning.
During the interactive session, Agric Stakeholders, SWOFON, Representatives from Ministry of Agriculture: Patience A. Isioma – Director Planning, Research and Statistics; Menewe Esanye – Unit Head, Mobilization of Rural Women for Sustainable Agriculture (MORWSA); Director Agric. Services – Ably represented by Kayode Judith; Director Crops – Ably Represented by Emikpe Anslem; Program Manager Delta State Agriculture Procurement Agency (DAPA) through her representative Favour Okpalefe, had promised improved input support to farmers as they all commended the work done by ENVIRUMEDIC. They also stated the need for the government to ensure security as a lot of farmers no longer go to farm because of insecurity.
In conclusion, The Delta State SWOFON President, Mrs. Grace Osadjoku who gave the vote of thanks after the presentation of Community Score Card findings as sampled in the 25 LGAs of the state as regards Farmers’ Access to Agricultural inputs between 2021-2023, has urged Delta State Government to utilize the benefits of group’s findings and recommendations to boost food security in the State