The Nasarawa State Chapter of Smallholders Women Farmers in Nigeria (SWOFON) on Friday appealed to the state government to increase budgetary allocations to the agricultural sector to ensure food security.
SWOFON’s State Coordinator, Mrs Susan Godwin, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lafia, urged the state government to accommodate the interests of women farmers.
Godwin said that the call became necessary to empower women farmers toward achieving food security.
“Women farmers are often forgotten by the government whenever fertiliser and other inputs are being distributed.
“The government needs to be gender-sensitive, by considering women farmers, to enable them to adopt machinist farming,” the coordinator noted.
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Similarly, SWOFON’s National Secretary, Mrs Omaboyowa Roberts, said the Nasarawa State Government needed to be more responsive in supporting women farmers with inputs and seedlings.
“For now, we want the government to support our members with rice and maize seedlings, fertiliser and soft loans to purchase power tiller and hand planter.
“The government should consider our members from the 13 local government areas of Nasarawa State, who had already applied for the farm inputs through their respective cooperative groups,” she said.
Roberts noted that the Nasarawa State SWOFON had over 14, 000 registered members, grouped under more than 1, 000 cooperative societies, which had applied for government support.
(NAN)
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