Nigeria - Stage 2
Main findings
Addressing the barriers faced by Women within the food systems will not only increase women participation in the Food system but will also address issues of unemployment of women, improve food security, and enhance sustainability. Improving/facilitating women involvement in the food system has the potential to reduce the endemic rural poverty among women as well as reducing rural -urban migration. Poor handling of relationships within the food system can result in socio-economic crisis that threatens education, health, human rights, as well as peace and security. Food insecurit
... Read morey is likely to increase if challenges faced by women within the food system are not identified and addressed. Women are not a homogenous group; it is therefore very important to look at the needs of women from diverse angles – producers, consumers, and entrepreneurs Coordination of interventions aimed at improving the participation of women in the food system is very important – MDAs, other stakeholders to the community level. It is important to bring forward many ‘he for she’; men that have been converted to support women. Some strategic and immediate steps to be taken suggested during the dialogue include: - Integrating women in decision making at all levels – very important so that well intended policies may not achieve their aim. - Promoting household food production among both rural and urban women - Providing strong support for land clearing and promoting mechanisation of agriculture by Government and private sector players. - Strengthening the Agricultural Extension Services for knowledge transfer, guidance, and support through the entire food system. - Promoting women’s groups as aggregators to guarantee stability of food prices. - Encouraging crop diversification, including production of bio-fortified foods. - Facilitating access of women to improved packaging materials for preservation; and to solar technology for drying. - Promoting small-scale animal husbandry for household access to animal source foods and for income generation - Promoting the rational use of fertilizers and agrochemicals by farmers and food traders and promoting organic farming. - Encouraging local production of agricultural implements and processing machines. - Facilitating access of women to improved seeds and other production inputs - Addressing gender stereotypes and cultural practices that put women at a disadvantage. - Facilitating the formation of women cooperative societies for easy access to cheap credit and inputs, as well as equipment for processing - Building relevant infrastructure, and road networks to improve transportation to markets, and prevent spoilage and wastage. - Designing nutrition education targeted at communities and schools, empowering community members and school children to make healthy food choices and highlight the dangers of unhealthy diet. - Revisiting traditional foods, which are healthy and locally available and affordable but have been abandoned due to globalization and changing food patterns and raising their profile. - Regulating advertisement and marketing of unhealthy foods. - Raising children as change ambassadors through nutrition education embedded in school curriculum for safe, healthy, and sustainable food consumption. - Identifying and scaling up evidence-based interventions that target reduction of food wastage e.g., the promotion of micro-agro processing enterprises focused on women participation. - Promoting proper water conservation and water harvesting techniques and recycling - Formulating ‘Safe seeds’ Policies, promote cultivation of crops that are resistant to drought and are early maturing. - Creating awareness on the importance of equal opportunities for all including the women in the food system. - Setting up a system to fast-track registration of food products and eliminate barriers and frustration in registering products with the regulatory agencies - NAFDAC, SON - Facilitating the inclusion of women in decision making positions in associations. - Facilitating market access for women, including access to market information, direct and strong linkages with transporters, and creating fixed physical market spaces and schedules so women do not resort to mobile markets that are unsustainable and offer poor prices - Identifying locally appropriate/sustainable storage and packaging solutions to extend shelf-life of agricultural products - Establishing micro-processing hubs to facilitate processing of highly perishable foods and reduce seasonal price shocks - Diversifying livelihood sources for women along the food system - Facilitating increased availability of insurance products, farmer subscriptions for insurance, and regulation of insurance practice so that claims are addressed promptly. - Improving security of communities and women, and of transportation systems for food, e.g., strengthening of local vigilante groups so that they provide first-line defence; assigning farmlands to women in easy to reach, central locations; early warning systems and peace building skills for all communities - Developing and expanding platforms for reaching women with information, including market and weather information, and information about how to register processed products and expand business. Read less
Action Track(s): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Keywords: Data & Evidence, Environment and Climate, Finance, Governance, Human rights, Innovation, Policy, Trade-offs, Women & Youth Empowerment