Nigerian women play a vital role in food and agriculture. It is estimated that women smallholder farmers constitute 37% percent of the labor force. They produce much of the food for domestic consumption and they are the drivers of food processing, marketing and preservation.
In spite of their important contribution in the agricultural sector, they have limited access to land, credit facilities, farm inputs, training and advice, and technology. Very few have holding rights on the land where they farm in Nigeria, with many working in the fields unpaid and little say in how earnings are spent.
With a rapidly growing population of over 200 million, and hunger and malnutrition prevalent, ramping up local production of dominant staples like rice is crucial for Nigeria to attain food security and lift millions of people out of poverty.
USAID understands that building a food secure future in Nigeria starts when women are empowered to own and manage their own land and produce. In partnership with Feed the Future and the Nigerian-based Trade Hub, thousands of women farmers are getting the tools, knowledge and resources to improve their incomes and the lives of their families and communities.
It Is believed that if women had the same access to finance, land, technology, and training advice as men, they could contribute significantly to the achievement of the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger in the country.
Hauwa Musa is one of those empowered farmers. Through a USAID co-investment grant with WACOT Rice, she managed to lift her and her family out of poverty. Being the second child in an extended family of four wives and 16 children, it was not easy. While studying at University, her father died and she was obligated to return home to provide for her siblings. She inherited a two acre plot of land and began to seed rice. With no funds she sold her cellular phone and got her cousin to labor in the farm for free. She knew nothing about rice cultivation and soon lost everything to flooding.
Before giving up, she heard about the capacity building program that WACOT Rice had initiated in her region with rice farmers. WACOT Rice is a rice processing company that operates a state-of-the-art rice mill in Argungu, Kebbi State, Nigeria. The mill is one of the largest rice mills in Africa and sources paddy from various paddy producing states across Nigeria. WACOT Rice also engages in out-grower farming programs with farmers to boost their yields and guarantee off-take of paddy from farmers through buyback arrangements.