By Mohammed Mohammed
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), Dr. Mohammad Mahmood Abubakar has restated the Ministry’s total and unwavering support towards the implementation of the National Gender Policy on Agriculture.
The Minister made the disclosure on Friday during the courtesy visit by the National Gender Steering Committee led by the Actionaid Country Director, Ms. Ene Obi to his office in Abuja.
He recalled that last year, the Ministry inaugurated the national gender steering committee on the implementation of the national gender policy on Agriculture to mainstream gender into Climate Change for people with disabilities, and access to input for women.
Abubakar, commended the steering committee for its great achievement towards creating visibility and awareness especially in translating the national gender policy in local languages to ensure the domestication of the policy in some States of the Federation.
He said the commitment to implement 8 out of the 11 objectives of the policy which aligns with the mandate of the committee had been forwarded to the World Bank through the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning for necessary action.
The Minister pointed out that the onerous responsibility of adopting strategies for a seamless implementation of the objectives of the policy and the well-articulated resolutions at the median retreat to pay courtesy calls on the Ministers of Women Affairs, Finance, Budget and National Planning, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation as a formidable strategy aimed at creating awareness for the policy.
Earlier, Permanent Secretary, o the Ministry, Dr. Ernest Umakhihe, commended the Country Director, Actionaid Nigeria, for accepting to provide leadership to this committee on the implementation of the national gender policy on Agriculture, and also the Executive Director Development Research and Project Center, Ms. Judith-Ann Walker, for sponsoring the 2nd retreat of the committee which will take place in Abuja.
In her welcome address, the Director, Special Duties, FMARD. Mrs. Fausat Lawal, represented by the Deputy Director (Special Duties), Akinrinlo Taiwo, said the focus on the gender policy on Agriculture was to mainstream women in extensions services system, improve their responsiveness in service delivery, integrate gender perspectives into Climate change and capacity of smallholder farmers on climate adaptation strategies.
In her remarks, the Country Director, Actionaid Nigeria, Ms. Ene Obi, said the national gender policy was an assertive document, which recognized the limitation of growth and development of the Agricultural sector
She pointed out how female farmers had been supported by different Ministries through Actionaid Nigeria with agricultural produce and training programmes across the country.
Obi, also advocated for the creation of a budget for small scale women farmers to be able to access Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), credit facilities at single digit rate.
In her presentation, the Assistant Director, Head Gender, FMARD, Mrs.
Ifeoma Anyanwu, stated that the workshops on mainstreaming Gender into Climate Change were carried out in the 6geo political zones with about 1,000 women trained on mitigation and adaptation strategy against climate change. The were given clean stoves at the event.
Signed: Olatunji Modupe, Information officer, for Director Information.
