Closing the Gender Gap in Nigeria’s Agriculture Sector

Abstract

The agriculture sector plays a crucial role in the Nigerian economy, in terms of its contribution to GDP, employment, household income and poverty alleviation. However, statistics have shown that the sector’s performance continues to decline over the years. The decline in the sector’s performance among other factors is partly attributable to the unequal access by male and female farmers to farm inputs and resources, such as land, credit facilities, assets, information and extension services. While effort had been made by the government to improve the sector’s productivity through massive investments, other factors limiting the performance of the sector include the out-dated National Gender Policy of 2006 which does not reflect current issues on gender and development, especially in line with the SDGs. The experiences of Malawi, Uganda and Rwanda showed that the Nigerian government needs to take concerted efforts to support women farmers, especially in the area of access to agricultural resources. Statistics indicate that Rwanda, Uganda and Malawi performed better than Nigeria in gender equality. This is based on the World Economic Forum (WEF)’s Gender Gap Index, which ranked Rwanda (9th out of 153 countries), Uganda (65th), Malawi (116th) and Nigeria (128th). Hence, the need for an appropriate institutional and clear legal framework, which is currently lacking in Nigeria, to mainstream gender issues in overall government’s agricultural policies, projects and programmes. Based on the analysis in this brief, the following recommendations are suggested to assist in closing the gender gap and ultimately enhance the performance of the sector: