Female Farmers in Anambra state are demanding gender-friendly tools for farming.
Over 600 of them on Thursday, protested for gender-friendly farm implements.
Led by the national coordinator of the group, Smallholder Women Farmers in Nigeria, Omaboyowa Roberts, the women are asking for consideration in the construction of certain agriculture machinery.
Omaboyowa Roberts, said the protest was to draw government’s attention to the plight of women farmers who constituted greater number of farmers in the state.
Drawn from the 21 local government areas of the state, the women said they represented “priority needs of 10, 253 smallholder women farmers in Anambra state.
Roberts said, “We want to inform government that over 70 per cent of farmers are women who are into primary production and value chain addition.”
“There’s need to increase agriculture budget for the state to meet the demands of the women.”
“Since last year, we commenced a project of holding government accountable to support smallholder women farmers in the state.”
“We’re also asking for gender-friendly machineries, especially power tillers and hand planters to help in our production as well as increase our well-being as families and communities,” she added.
Mrs Omaboyowa Roberts said the nationwide campaign would hold in five states of Nasarawa, Niger, Jigawa, Anambra and Oyo, and would culminate in the FCT where the priority demands would be submitted.
