The ActionAid project, Strategic Partnership for Agroecology and Climate Justice, has supported more than 12,000 women farmers and youths in Abuja through agroecology, also known as organic farming.

Hajara Ramson, project lead at SPAC–West Africa, Nigeria, disclosed this on Thursday at the stakeholders’ Campaign and Advocacy on Land Ownership and Market Access for Smallholder Women Farmers and Young Farmers in Abuja.

Ms Ramson said that the project had supported over 12,000 women farmers and youths across the six area councils over the past three years through agroecology capacity-building and training-of-trainers.

Ms Ramson said the gesture had led to improved sustainable farming practices and strengthened community resilience. She said that, though the project had ended, there was a need to scale it up to ensure sufficient organic food in the country to safeguard health.

Ms Ramson, however, said that while production had improved, many SHWFs and young farmers were still unable to fully benefit economically.

She said this was due to persistent insecure land access and limited access to structured, profitable markets.

Ms Ramson said that SPAC–West Africa, Nigeria, with support from ActionAid’s International Transformative Impact Fund, was being implemented in collaboration with the Small-Scale Women Farmers Organisation in Nigeria.

According to her, this group accounts for over 500,000 rural women farmers across the 36 states of the federation, contributing over 75 per cent to the country’s food basket.

She said that the group worked to promote sustainable agriculture, rural economic development, and improved livelihoods through capacity building, advocacy, and engagement with duty bearers on behalf of smallholder women farmers.

Ramson said that the SPAC was initiated to address the lingering challenges posed by unwholesome and unhealthy farming practices, such as the use of synthetic fertilisers and hazardous chemicals for weed control, among others, in food production.

She listed challenges posed by such practices, including land degradation and unhealthy food production, thereby endangering the general public’s health and compounding the country’s disease burden.

According to her, the stakeholders’ campaign and advocacy are to have a robust conversation and ensure that women farmers own land and have access to markets for a food-secure nation.

(NAN)