Provide gender-friendly tools, women farmers tell Kwara govt

Women farmers in Kwara state, under the aegis of the Small Scale Women Farmers Organization in Nigeria (SWOFON), have requested for agric gender-friendly machines aimed to make work easy and simple and as well reduce the labour cost on the farm to the management of the state Agricultural Development Programme (ADP) through the Women In Agriculture (WIA) department.

Speaking on behalf of the women farmers during the presentation on Friday, the state coordinator of the organization and the secretary, Mrs Elizabeth Ndako and Titilayo Ade Salami, respectively, also requested equipment for women farmers with a disability, asked the state government to provide boreholes and pumping machines on their farms for easy irrigation.

The SWOFON officials also requested the state government to include in the 2025 agric budget, “training and education on adaptive farming techniques, specific training programmes for farmers with disability and accessible agricultural information and resources (e.g audio description, braille materials).

“Our request also include; power tiller: Instead of waiting for tractor, we will use the tiller for plough. Harrow and ridgers, planters, weeding machine: grass cutting machine: These machines can be used in the cassava, cash
crops plantation.

“For rice processing, we will need paddy huller machine, The de-stoner, rice polishing machine, packing machine and sealer for easy packaging.

“For garri processing: Grinding machine and Jack.

“For the farmers with disability: Flashing light for safety signal (e.g Tractor backup alerts) for farmers with hearing impairment, adaptive tools with tactile markers (e.g raised lines, different textures), Trained guide animals for mobility assistance, Protective clothing and gear (e.g hats, gloves, sunglasses) for sun protection, and modified equipment controls (e.g. joystick controls, pedal-operated tools).”

Responding after the presentation of the request, the managing director Kwara ADP, Dr. Ahmed Ayinke Khadijat, assured that the requests would be passed to appropriate quarters for possible inclusion in next year budget.

The Kwara ADP managing director also informed the women farmers of such opportunity of an upcoming training programme on how to prolong storage and shelf life of soya bean cake, packaging, among other activities of the agency at Women in Agriculture (WIA) unit.

Also speaking, the Director, Women in Agriculture (WIA), Mrs. Elemosho Rafat, said such training programme would equip the women farmers with knowledge on how to export processed agriculture value chain products outside the country with aim of increasing sources of their income.

The agric officials, who encouraged the women farmers to attend the programme, said that they should step down the knowledge acquired during the training among their members.

In his remark, the Coordinator, Scaling up of Public Investment in Agriculture (SUPIA) project, Mr. Abdurrahman Ayuba, said the advocacy visit to the ADP is a collaborative efforts among the organizations to see to improved inclusion of stakeholders in agriculture budgeting, improved agriculture production and ensuring food sufficiency in the state.

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