‘Why female farmers’ associations need to be strengthened’

For the fact that not much is heard or seen about the activities of female farmers’ associations, it was, therefore, the belief of many that they are either not existing or they lack the capacity to make any impact.It is on this ground that dRPC felt that female farmers need to be sensitised on how […]

For the fact that not much is heard or seen about the activities of female farmers’ associations, it was, therefore, the belief of many that they are either not existing or they lack the capacity to make any impact.
It is on this ground that dRPC felt that female farmers need to be sensitised on how to become relevant in the agricultural sector. This idea stemmed from the supposition that when women are empowered, especially through agriculture, the impact of poverty in the society can be significantly reduced.
For the past six months, dRPC has been engaged in implementing what they called organisational capacity building for farmers’ associations with specific emphasis on financial management, proposal development, monitoring, evaluation and advocacy as well as gender mainstreaming with a particular attention to Katsina State farmers’ associations.
The gender mainstreaming resulted into the incorporation of associations run by females or those that have female as members. This brought together many associations where agricultural experts trained them on capacity building with specific attention on the areas of afforestation and reforestation interventions in Katsina State.
This initiative by the dRPC, which was funded by OXFAM-NOVIB, has been ongoing for six months, and within the period, it has developed a manual guide for farmers’ associations on how to run those associations.
According to a representative of dRPC, Mustapha Ballama, the programme was earlier meant to run for one year, but was cut to six months by the funders. Therefore, as a final phase of the programme, dRPC brought together farmer nongovernmental organisations, policy makers and the transition committee of the incoming administration to interact on some issues. This interaction was made possible by the two-day workshop, during which issues affecting the implementation of agroforestry were identified.
Ballama said formal and informal education for farmers and their children, entrepreneurship, microfinance and capacity building of farmer NGOs, both in Nigeria and abroad, were some of the issues that the workshop discussed.
The opportunity, according to him, provided a forum where farmers interacted with relevant stakeholders in the agricultural sector, and it was believed that the workshop has sharpened farmers’ understanding of the modern ways of doing farming as a business.
It has also set agenda, Ballama said, for the incoming government in Katsina State and the national level.
Some of the leaders of farmers’ associations that shared their experiences with our correspondent said that the opportunity of interacting with experts, and the training they underwent, would go a long way in improving their activities now and in the future.
Jummai Garba is the Coordinator of the Women Economic Empowerment Organisation in Katsina State. She said that the capacity building workshop was her first contact with any activity organised by the dRPC, adding: “I have been hearing about this organisation dRPC, but this is the first time I am participating in any of their activities.
“I think this organisation can lead us in achieving a lot of developmental issues in Katsina State and Nigeria as a whole. I have seen their commitment and focus on agricultural practices, like planting, harvest, modern farming techniques and other areas, and I believe that Nigerian farmers and associations, like ours, have a lot to benefit from them.”
On the reduction of the period of the capacity building programme from one year to six months, Jummai explained thus: “Honestly, for me, one year would be difficult for us to grab all the things that we need to improve our capacity and transmit that to the grassroots farmers. Therefore, we are calling on the funders of this project to copy from how the World Bank organises its intervention programmes. The funders should make their programmes to be running for, at least, four years. This would ensure effectiveness and the achievement of the set goals.”
According to Sagir Suleiman, the Coordinator for Care Foundation for the Reforestation of Katsina, the dRPC project has brought unity among farmers’ associations.
He said: “To say that we are happy with this programme is an understatement. When they came, they met us in a form of disarray. But they are now leaving us more organised, with human resource and financial manuals, among others. Most of us now have offices and other structures that make us formal. This would go a long way in improving our activities.
“Unfortunately, midway to this programme, they are saying that the programme is over. We have covered sessions on how to source funds for our activities, but we are yet to cover the issues of proposal writing, which is also very important.”
Mary Adeniji is the Senior Programme Officer of the Community Information Project, who said that what she found important about the programme was how farmers’ associations can help grassroots farmers get what they need.
“The programme has also improved our knowledge on the procedures of accessing fund and other materials for farmers,” she said, adding: “We now know how to set our priorities.”
Representative of TASMA Improving Environment and Development, Gali Mani Darma, said the programme could assist government to achieve its agricultural goals.
“I think through these activities, the goals of government, not even individual farmers, can be achieved. This is something that should be encouraged, especially by the government, because somebody somewhere is discharging her responsibilities.”
In their different submissions, some of the resource persons invited by dRPC stressed the need for proper orientation of farmers to understand how they can access researches conducted by different agricultural research institutes, in order to improve the country’s agricultural sector.
The issue of high rate of interest that is usually attached to loans given to farmers was also discussed. A situation where farmers are made to pay high interest is hindering the progress and output of the agricultural sector, the workshop observed.
Farmers were also advised to form associations as that would give them more access to governmental and nongovernmental interventions that are meant for Nigerian farmers.
Through that, the workshop observed, farmers can engage in exporting their produce, improve their capacity, and add value to their farm produce and agriculture in general.