Transcript Opportunities for Women and Youth in Agriculture

OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN AND YOUTH IN AGRICULTURE
Bassey Archibong
Director- Household Economic Strengthening
USAID- MARKETS II Project
OVERVIEW OF PRESENTATION
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Women Empowerment in Agriculture
Some challenges affecting women involvement in Agriculture
Turning Challenges to opportunities for women
Why Youth in Nigeria agriculture
Efforts to engage youth in Agriculture
Opportunities for youth within the Agriculture value chains
Where do we go from here?
OBJECTIVES
• Identify opportunities available for
business in all stages of agricultural
value chain
• Determine support systems which
women and youth in the Niger Delta
can access to enable them succeed in
agri-business
WOMEN EMPOWERMENT IN AGRICULTURE
The Women's Empowerment in Agriculture (WEA) framework .
Three components influence the engagement of women in agriculture
value chains:
Agency-The capacity of women to take
action as value chain actors.
Relations- The horizontal and vertical linkages
that increase or decrease women’s capacity
for action(agency) and the enabling environment (structure)
Structure- The enabling environment (institutions, regulations, policies
and norms) that codify gender relations within a value chain and
throughout a society.
SOME CHALLENGES FACING WOMEN IN AGRICULTURE
• Women in Nigeria are equally entrepreneurial yet women face lower
access to capital which is needed to scale up their businesses
• Access to productive resources such as land(smaller plot sizes,
degraded soils )
• Less access to improved seeds, machinery, and other inputs,
• Agricultural Insurance is rare for women farmers
• Difficulty in accessing affordable labor for crop, livestock, and fish
production.
• Use of technology is costly for women small-scale producers and
processers
• Difficulty in accessing relevant training( due to cultural or family
constraints or lack of funds)
TURNING CHALLENGES TO OPPORTUNITIES
•Micro finance Institutions prefer women groups(processors, traders),
women can be supported to leverage on MFI for non farm activities
(processing, marketing)
•Promote job creation through service provision ( seed sorting, grain
cleaning, mechanization support)
•Encourage their participation in value added activities like - milling,
parboiling, and fish smoking, product bulking, packaging, small-scale
processing, and marketing.
•Continuous and consistent advocacy to policy makers on constraints
that inhibit female farmers’ entry into productive value chains.
•Agricultural campaigns that ensure women are accessing and using
improved seeds, machinery, and other inputs (eg.GES)
TURNING CHALLENGES TO OPPORTUNITIES
•Emphasis on no-cost and low-cost technologies first – (integrated
pest management, integrated soil fertility management, and improved
seeds)
•Deliberate increase in number of women participating in
agribusiness training ,
•Make training more accessible to women(time, location and
conditions for attendance)
• Increase women’s role in producer associations.
•Ensure equity in agricultural campaign support.
•Recruit more female extension agents, for increased information
dissemination and facilitation of knowledge sharing,
WHY YOUTH IN AGRICULTURE?
Nigeria’s unemployment rate is increasing, youth experience
higher levels of unemployment and underemployment and a
much greater concentration in the informal sector than adults.
• More young people entering the workforce only a small fraction
able to find formal employment
• An urgent need for replacement of aging farming population
• New technologies are changing the way agricultural
commodities are produced, processed and transported,
• Youth are better positioned to engage in innovative processes
• Agri-business is profitable for youth
THE YOUTH CHALLENGE
• Low interest in agriculture/agribusiness due to long gestation period
before profit is realized.
• Youth lack sufficient asset to meet banks’ collateral requirements to
access loans
• Banks are averse to agricultural loan and particularly lending to youth
• Lack of access to land, often exacerbated in certain crops. (cocoa,
Oil Palm)
• Rural youth attached to agriculture are disadvantaged as compared
to those in non-farm activities.
• Female youth work more hours than young men, are more likely to
be underemployed, and more likely to be out of the labor force.
• Limited safe spaces for female youth to engage in agri-business
SUMMARY OF AGRO-RELATED YOUTH EMPOWERMENT ACTIVITIES
By Federal Ministries Department/Agencies
Federal Ministry of Agriculture (Youth and Gender Desk)
-Working with FAO to roll out the Youth in Agriculture Empowerment Program.
- Set up structures at the federal and state levels for implementation of the
program.
-South-South commodities: Oil Palm, Cocoa ,Cassava ,Rice, Livestock and
Fisheries
Ministry of Finance, Communication and Youth Development (You Win
Program)
• The Youth Enterprise with Innovation in Nigeria (You Win) Programme is a
collaboration of the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Communication
Technology (CT), the Ministry of Youth Development and the Ministry of Women
Affairs and Social Development
• Annual Business Plan Competition (BPC) for aspiring young entrepreneurs in
Nigeria, proved seeds and other inputs.
SUMMARY OF AGRO-RELATED YOUTH EMPOWERMENT ACTIVITIES
By State Ministries Department/Agencies
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Cross River State
- The state government sent 100 youth to Songhai farm, and has established a
mini Songhai farm in Abi Local Government area
- Cocoa livelihood program for youths in Boki, Obubra, Ikom Etung and Obudu
(WCS Project)
Delta State
-Youth Empowerment Through Agriculture (YETA) and farmer support program,
program establishes cluster farms focusing on Cassava and fish farming.
Ondo State
-New generation farmers Scheme- empowerment of youth in Cassava, Maize,
Vegetable farming.
- Activities include training and allocation of cleared land to youth; seeds are
distributed to the youth farmers.
River States
- River State Sustainable Development Agency, set up to develop the agrorelated potentials of River state.
-6 integrated farms set up by RSSDA which is expected to train youths and
SUMMARY OF AGRO-RELATED YOUTH EMPOWERMENT ACTIVITIES
By State Ministries Department/Agencies
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OXFAM
- Coordinates small scale agro processors network in Nigeria
- Mobilization of youth both in and out of school youths, using various media
Volunteer Services Overseas (VSO)
Nigeria Graduate Volunteer Program. VSO signed an MOU with NYSC. NYSC
provides Corps Members to communities as Community Extension Volunteers.
IFAD (RUFIN)
-Provides capacity building and access to financial services- Targets youth,
women, people with disability in pilot states of Edo, Akwa Ibom in Niger Delta
ACTIONAID Nigeria
- Manages Youth Advocacy group on food security (ACTIVISTA), works with
Ondo state government to train youth in agriculture as advocates
Bank of Agriculture
-Developed a new youth-focused initiative – Youth Agriculture Revolution in
Nigeria (YARN) – to provide small enterprises managed by youth with loans up to
$1 million Naira
POWER and Project AWAKE
SUMMARY OF AGRO-RELATED YOUTH EMPOWERMENT ACTIVITIES
By State Ministries Department/Agencies
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OXFAM
- Coordinates small scale agro processors network in Nigeria
- Mobilization of youth both in and out of school youths, using various media
Volunteer Services Overseas (VSO)
Nigeria Graduate Volunteer Program. VSO signed an MOU with NYSC. NYSC provides
Corps Members to communities as Community Extension Volunteers.
IFAD (RUFIN)
-Provides capacity building and access to financial services- Targets youth, women, people
with disability in pilot states of Edo, Akwa Ibom in Niger Delta
ACTIONAID Nigeria
- Manages Youth Advocacy group on food security (ACTIVISTA), works with Ondo state
government to train youth in agriculture as advocates
Bank of Agriculture
-Developed youth-focused initiative – Youth Agriculture Revolution in Nigeria (YARN) – to
provide small enterprises managed by youth with loans up to $1 million Naira
POWER and Project AWAKE
- Designed women focused agri-enterprise for female youth and women in Cooperatives in
Cross River State
USAID/MARKETS II PROJECT
-engages and integrates youth throughout the agricultural value chains.
SOME OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUTH
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Small/medium scale processors of Cassava, and Rice, Oil palm
Farm Input suppliers and related services(
Fish farming(plastic and concrete tanks fish production)
Fish drying and marketing
Fish feed selling (micro consignment)
Cocoa Spraying, Nursery production
Bee farming( Honey production and pollination services)
Grasscutter, Snail, Mushroom farming)
Irrigation machine operators
Cassava harvesting and processing
Crop farming- Rice, Cassava, Cocoa, Oil palm, Maize
WHAT SUPPORT CAN YOUTH ACCESS FOR AGRI-BUSINESS
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Positive discrimination in public policy in order to facilitate the
entry of youth into the agriculture sector (land use)
- Increase cooperation between farming organizations,
governments, private companies and other stakeholders
- Youth in leadership trainings to build business skills and foster
entrepreneurial spirit in youth.
THANK YOU