‘Why we don’t help our husbands during harvest’

In Nasarawan Buhari, it is possible to find a woman working on another man’s farm instead of her husband’s. it sound really curious, but the women hav ready made answer for that attitude. The harvesting of beans is a tedious part of farming that the men of Nasarawan Buhari have reserved for their women. This […]

In Nasarawan Buhari, it is possible to find a woman working on another man’s farm instead of her husband’s. it sound really curious, but the women hav ready made answer for that attitude.

The harvesting of beans is a tedious part of farming that the men of Nasarawan Buhari have reserved for their women. This is so because it ‘kills’ the back, they say. When asked why the women chorused, “bayan mu”. And because it kills the back, the women charge the men N300  to harvest a full bag of beans as against the N70 they charge for a full bag of maize.

Expectedly, the men do not find this funny and would rather stay away from planting beans entirely like Mohamed Mohamed has. “Anything that is difficult and will give me worry I don’t venture into,” he said. “That is why I don’t plant tomatoes or beans. For tomatoes, irrigation farming is capital intensive and for a crop so perishable I think it is too much investment to make. As for beans, the thought of harvesting gives me headache. Worse still was the thought of having to pay one woman N300 per bag to harvest. Can you imagine that?” he exclaimed. “A bag, after the beans has been dehusked produces a mere five tiers. How much profit do I make in the end?”

Regardless of what the men say, the women are adamant that the ‘exploitation’ of their backs is worth every dime that they demand as payment for their labour. They said it is even more beneficial to ‘do outside work’ than for them to work on the farms of their husbands. Binta spoke on their behalf. “I, like many of us, avoid working for husbands because they like to work for bashi  (credit)and upon that, they owe the bashi forever. When we ask, they say we have worked for the family so our work was not in vain. We look at them helplessly when they say this, but with a lot of anger as you can imagine.”

Beyond the ‘exploitation’ the women are accusing their husbands of, the women still have other issues to contend with. One of them is Vesico Vaginal Fistula (VVF). They told Weekly Trust that an awareness campaign was carried out in the community, but only the women were involved. They expected that the men who are the ‘main culprits’, as one of them put it, should have been part of the sensitisation programme.

According to the National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services (NAERLS) , about 15 per cent of the women suffer from the illness and many of them have carried it from their early teenage years as new brides into their old age.

The women feel embarrassed talking about VVF. One of such is Hadiza Adamu (not her real name) a ‘widow’.

When Hadiza’s husband found out she urinates uncontrollably and smelled, not knowing what exactly she was suffering from, he sent her back to her mother. When she was cured, he returned for her but his mother-in-law refused to allow Hadiza go with him. This caused some crisis in the community but also made them seek help. It was this that brought the sensitisation campaign.

Hadiza returned to Nasarawan Buhari and is living on her own. She earns a living by participating in the community self-help scheme. The group protects her identity when it comes to talking about VVF.

Despite the awareness, some of the women still refuse orthodox treatment and prefer to stay indoors or treat the illness traditionally. The others receive treatment from the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Shika.

The women of Nasarawan Buhari also engage in petty trading, petroleum jelly production as well as soap making.

Aikin gayya which is ‘communal self-help’ is the most commonly used method of farming in the community, road construction and other trade.

The men, operate under a corporative association with 50 members. Due to the difficulty of tilling the soil, the association has bought two bulls with which they plough the soil. Alhaji Lawal, Sarki Nasarawan Buhari explained that, “we start with one person’s farm and then go to another’s, in that way after we complete ploughing everybody’s farm. Use on the farms of non-members attracts a rent fee of the animals.”

With interactions from the NAERLS of the Ahmadu Bello University, the farmers have also learnt the benefit of new farming techniques. One seed per hole gives them up to 40 to 45 bags as against the several seeds per hole which produced only 12 to 15 bags. For rice farming they now use the drill method where the rice seeds are covered unlike the broadcast method used before.

A major side attraction on the way to the farm, were children attempting to make flowery patterns with their own version of laile (henna). First picking to their heels as soon as they sighted our reporter with a camera but once they saw that she wanted to be part of the creativity they willingly began to show off their ‘incredible’ designs as they described them to her.

The farmers complain of Maruca an insect infecting the bean crop. Umar Abu, Communication Officer of the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), explained that the production of beans is constrained by several biotic and abiotic factors which often result to low yields at 0.05 to 0.55, against a potential yield of 2.0 to 2.5 tonnes per hectare. This leads to gross loss of about 70 to 80 per cent and up to 90 per cent in some cases.

Abu, however, said controlling the Maruca pod borer (MPB) with pesticides has been largely inefficient due to high cost of the pesticides. “Abuse of pesticides is also inevitable due to lack of expertise required to manage pesticides effectively, leading to negative health and environmental impacts. This creates a need for a more efficient and sustainable option for dealing with the Maruca pest.” He said this is an area where extensive research is still being carried out using biotechnology applications is on-going by the Institute of Agricultural Reasearch, IAR with the support AATF through funding from USAID  to bring about lasting solutions to the issue.