Nigeria: Young women are proving their mettle in agriculture

Published 19 Feb,2021 via The Nation - The growth in the Nigerian national economy has been credited to agriculture which accounts for over 20% of Nigeria’s GDP. The importance of agriculture in any nation’s economy cannot be over emphasized. The agricultural value chain in any well planned economy is a huge employer of labour and revenue earner. According to the federal Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development, women account for 75 percent of the farming population in Nigeria. They are equally a great part of the agriculture supply chain in both the formal and informal sectors.

The role of women in the agricultural sector in the country has been very pivotal to the success of that sector principally due to their nurturing, leadership and multi-tasking nature. However, despite their huge contributions, agriculture is somehow instinctively seen as a man’s field possibly because of socio-cultural perceptions.

However, the changing global trends have seen the younger generation of women raising the bar in a sector that often gives them less credit and support. There are more determined female entrepreneurial players in the agricultural value chain and more and more young women are bringing their grit and industry to agriculture in ways that seem to be saying, ‘do not ignore us, even in agriculture, women leadership, industry and the ability to multitask and be optimally productive is for the good of our country’.