Women break barrier in livestock, crop production

Women crop farmers and pastoralists in Benue State are taking the lead to improve on their income and better the lives of their households as they unite to seek better options to develop their trade. Vera Aondohemba, a dedicated crop farmer from Ikpam village along UniAgric Road, Makurdi, has struggled for years to make a […]

Women crop farmers and pastoralists in Benue State are taking the lead to improve on their income and better the lives of their households as they unite to seek better options to develop their trade.

Vera Aondohemba, a dedicated crop farmer from Ikpam village along UniAgric Road, Makurdi, has struggled for years to make a meaningful impact due to restrictive marital traditions.

“In marriage, securing farmland is a challenge. You must convince your husband to grant you access, and when he does, you handle everything – from tilling the soil to planting. I regularly cultivate groundnuts, and when I sell the harvest, the money goes straight into paying school fees.

“This does not stop me from working in his (husband) own farm. I will weed for him and harvest the crop, doing all the labouring and after the produce are sold, he takes all the money leaving none at all for me. So, I bear all the responsibility. Sometimes, they (men) collect all the farm produce from us,” she said.

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Similarly, Mnena Igbah, from Abinsi community in Guma LGA who farms rice and yam, complained that women are not allowed to operate freely with their own crop farming without permission from their husbands to carry out their activities.

“We will have to obtain our husbands permission to take our crops to the market. When the crops are sold, they will collect the money and spend it. This is beside the challenges we face weeding the farms because there was never money to buy chemicals,” Mnena told our correspondent.

For livestock pastoralist Harila Umaru, resident in Tse-Abunku, getting milk from their cows has become so scarce these days that they are beginning to mull an idea for alternative income to cater for members of their households.

Hawa Hassan also supported the views of Umaru, saying the challenge was a major one among female pastoralists in the state.

These women bore their hearts during the GoGreen Environmental Health and Sustainability Initiatives, a non-governmental organisation programme held in Makurdi to empower women farmers and livestock farmers with training on rights and sustainability in celebration of International Women’s Day.

Our correspondent reports that the one-day workshop for the women livestock herders and crop farmers drawn from Tse-Akpuku (Makurdi) and Abinsi (Guma LGA) focused on advancing gender equality, ensuring women’s rights, and fostering empowerment in agricultural communities.

To this end, the women at the one-day workshop deliberated on how to mitigate their challenges in order to enhance their various interests – crop farming and livestock pasturing – for income generation and better livelihood.

These barriers, according to resources at the event, can be removed for the women to work effectively with opportunities at their fingertips in order to bring their specific contributions to the table.

On her part, Mrs Magdalen Andoor, Director of Women Affairs at the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Welfare, urged women to assert their place across all sectors as she stressed the need for the women to be humble so that their men can carry them along on the journey to become self-reliant and achieve their goals.

“Women are saddled with lots of responsibilities and according to this year’s theme, our voices should be heard. We elect people into the assembly, so we should be included. On issues of gender-based violence, we should be carried along and we should humble ourselves so that men will like working with us,” Andoor said.

Speaking at the event, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GoGreen, Ameh Jackson, who was represented by the Project Coordinator, Mrs Theodora Chia, emphasised the need for women inclusion in decision making, stressing that his organisation remains passionate about women empowerment.

He reaffirmed Go-Green’s commitment to championing women’s rights and creating opportunities for them to thrive in society.

Ameh said, “We are working with communities in Guma and Makurdi LGAs. We are working on strengthening peace between livestock farmers and crop farmers in Benue. To sustain this, we pulled them out of their communities to engage them as women have a role to play; look at ways to make peace.

“The workload rests on their shoulders. Men have their farms but the women work on their men’s farms. They have no rights to inherit farm lands. As for the pastoralists, their cattle no longer produce milk so they need avenues to make money that they can rely on.”

As these women like Aondohema unite with