Agricultural policies for women in Tinubu’s government

BY Dr. E.O Ogunsalu, Phd,MNIM, MNIIA

There is a low level of high breed seedlings importation into the country. The land use act of the Federal Government is not helpful and has contributed negatively to agricultural development in the country. Some State Governments have acquired large expanse of fertile land and left the indigenes with no land to farm.

To overcome the challenges and improvise on agriculture and food production in post COVID-19 world requires the introduction of high-yield pest resistance crops to the local farms, this will enable less land to produce more food and reduce crop losses at the post-harvest stage.

There will also be a need to introduce improved agro forestry techniques that have slow water erosion and help to preserve the fertility of the land.  The education of indigenes on the basics of good nutrition is highly desirable.

The key to short-term causes of disease and food insecurity is to invest in long-term structural change and short-term stop gap measures.

Interventions in the food system at national and global levels are necessary to make long-term changes. There will be a need for the construction of more and adequate new feeder roads to connect thousands of rural people to local markets with sound and stable macro-economic policies are essential during these critical times.

Nigeria must tackle its short and medium-term issues, and develop potential to increase the market share in the global economy.

Agriculture should be one of the core industries in which the country must excel, as such; emphasis is to be placed on global leadership on cereal, horticulture, meat production and food processing. A strong institutional environment must emerge since agriculture is recognized as a pathway for national transformation through socioeconomic development and as a crucial engine of growth. The country must look beyond concentration of production-nascent primary and secondary processing in the regions and move to challenging opportunities for higher value creation, such as in more transparent and diversified value chains, creative nutrition habits, shifts in consumer preferences and the emergence of new consumer groups that are synonymous to corona virus pandemic impact.

Communications infrastructure, markets and institutional arrangements must support farmers’ access to seasonal and long-term capital.

Technology that is productive and robust under farm conditions must be implemented.

Fundamental changes in the agricultural landscape, climate change, and resource depleting practices that limits output and affect food security after years of unsustainable farming needs further investigation. Structural weakness in food processing must be reserved. Innovation and private sector involvement are crucial to improve the future competitive position of the country,

Reversal of rural exodus should be minimized by the creation of skilled jobs in the sector, by encouraging mechanization, workforce education, and improved infrastructure.

The country must continue to encourage genetic engineering, automation, digitalization, precision farming among others as the agro-food industry has become technology driven.

Now, on  “Dissecting Asiwaju’s Agricultural Policies for women”, it is imperative that women demands and needs significant role in the political economy of agricultural development in Nigeria, as well as in Africa is enormous.

A Chinese proverb observes that “women hold up half the sky.” Women are more concentrated in occupations such as agriculture; domestic service, street vending, and teaching are faced with barriers to entering vocations in management and higher paid professions. Women’s job usually earns lower wages or salaries and wields less power, women are also greatly underrepresented in the political arena, and they hold far fewer governmental posts than men do.

How do you overcome these barriers in agricultural and other Sectoral policies? The good news is that the agricultural policy put forth in the manifesto recognised the importance of implementing land reform. This requires determination and political will. If achieved land reform can be an important instrument that facilitates rural development where 70 per cent of Nigerians live and work. It will also assist in the redistribution of wealth and promote economic development among women.

Nigeria’s land use act is in disarray and must be reformed. The 1978 Land Use Act nationalized land, paragraph 2(a) state that “all other land in urban areas shall be under the control and management of the Governor of each State” likewise paragraph 2(b) state that “all other land, subject to this act, be situated” thereby, placed ownerships in the hands of state Governors” in Trust for the benefit of Nigerians. The Act is out of step with the market economy that the nation has aligned with.

The land use law ended private ownership of land, created bureaucratic administrative procedures that negatively affect the time and costs of simple transactions.

The World Bank groups doing business report in 2015 ranks Nigeria 185th out of total 189 developed and developing countries on registering property, indicating that the country is lagging behind compared to other countries.

The land use act also contributed to the growth of the informal market, 70 per cent of land transactions in Nigeria are over informal markets; the transactions that are over informal markets , are without the certificate of occupancy and official consent required by law, and are not able to serve as legal evidence of rights or support effective research of records.

Human Capital is an intrinsic value in the 21st century, especially for women’s development and competitiveness. It is a process of increasing knowledge, enhancing skills, talents and competencies in vocational and technical education for increase in productivity. The agricultural sector has become a hub for scientific innovations and is more technologically driven. There is no doubt that human capital plays a significant role in the economic development and growth of any modern nation; Nigeria and Nigerian women cannot be an exception.

Due to its importance, in October 2018, World Bank launched the Human Capital Index, a tool to accelerate investments in the health and education of the next generation of workers, as part of its broader Human Capital Project. Likewise, the United Nations 2019 Human Development Report is mostly concerned about the lifetime consequences of inequalities, particularly given the rapid technological changes, which are likely to impact the labour markets, and the economic, social and environmental transformation that are unfolding worldwide.

Unfortunately challenges of developing human capital in Nigeria with a global comparability and competitiveness remains far from appreciable levels due to feeble commitments by successive governments. In Nigeria the system of education has not been able to harness the different aspects of training, either vocational or practical, to prepare the recipients. For decades, government seem to have neglected the serious decay in both infrastructure and human capital development which had led to low productivity in the Nigerian economy. These are challenges that must be confronted and mitigated in the agricultural sector policy.

The issue of human capital development is increasingly becoming the most important field of scientific research; the women in Nigeria must be attentive to all that is on-going and be prepared to play an important role in national development. The government effort on entrepreneurship development must move from the drawing board to daily news to concrete and practical steps that have physical and graphical documentation.

There should be a stable industrial policy on Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) favourable to women, devoid of party colorations, that is based on meritocracy and regularized structure.

Corporate social responsibility for women requires the involvement of large national companies; some have more money than government and non-governmental organisations. Currently, it is believed that improving the status of women is one of the most critical levers of international development and that empowering women is a good business. When women are educated and can earn and control income-infant mortality declines, child health and nutrition improve, agricultural productivity rises, population growth slows, economies expand, and cycles of poverty are broken. Nigeria’s large corporation needs to be held responsible to fulfil their obligations as is done with international companies. Some companies are already promoting initiatives focused on women as part of their corporate social responsibility programs. This gives them an image as good corporate citizens.

As multi-national corporations search for growth in the developing world, they are beginning to realise that women’s disempowerment causes staggering and deeply pernicious losses in productivity, economic activity and human capital.  Companies that embrace female empowerment see their labour forces become more productive, the quality of their global supply chain improve, and their customer base expand. They are also driving what could be the greatest cultural shift of the twenty-first century. Also training women as local distributors of goods and services is important, but so is incorporating women-owned businesses into global supply chain.

Women and the challenges of the 21st century, demands a turning point in this new global era, women must win battles in the political arena and break front liners in the economic realm to prosper.