Stakeholders working in the agricultural sector on Thursday validated the draft Gender Situation Analysis of Agriculture and Rural Development in Kaduna State.
The validation was facilitated by the Legal Awareness for Nigeria Women (LANW) under the AGRA Gender Consortium, in collaboration with the Kaduna State Ministry of Agriculture.
Mrs Rebecca Sako-John, Member of the Board of Trustee, LANW, said at the opening of the event in Kaduna, that the NGO had in June facilitated the establishment of a Stakeholders’ Consultative Forum.
Sako-John explained that the forum was towards the identification and prioritisation of gaps and issues for the development of a Kaduna State Gender Policy in Agriculture.
She added that LANW also commissioned the conduct of the gender situational analysis of agriculture and rural development to form the basis for the development of the policy.
She said that the meeting was to agree on key recommendations for incorporation during the development of the draft policy.
This, according to her, would increase women inclusion and implementation of the National Gender Agricultural Policy and its domestication in the state.
She explained that LANW, in partnership with Value Seeds Limited and Palm Valley Nigeria Limited, established the Gender Consortium on the Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) project.
She said the project was designed to enhance resilience and up scaling of the gender inclusive rural economy for increased productivity, livelihood, and food security.
Sako-John said that the objective was to increase productivity for women smallholder farmers and strengthen young women’s access to output markets at scale in Nigeria and Kaduna state.
She added that the project would also increase the capacity of smallholder farming households and value chain actors to better prepare and adapt to shocks and stresses.
Ms Mercy Dawa, Administration and Finance Officer, Palm Valley Nig. Ltd, said that the organisation had been training women famers on group dynamics and linking them to financial institutions.
