By Dare Akogun
Women in Nigeria have been hailed for their efforts at ensuring food security in the country and reducing hunger-induced deaths.
The National President Nigerian Association Of Women In Agriculture, NAWIA, Mrs. Ngizan Chahul gave the commendation at their 2022 Annual General Meeting, AGM, held in March 2023.
She said 12,000 women have enrolled in the membership of the association to increase food production in the country.
Mrs. Chahul stated that the association is implementing 12 different projects and programs in different parts of the country to touch the lives of smallholder women farmers and the vulnerable in different thematic areas.
She commended Nigerian women for joining NAWIA and taking up the responsibility of producing food to feed the nation saying “No Woman, No Food, No Food, No Nation.”
She noted the association had strengthened its activities in states across the country and established offices in more states to ensure that women were well coordinated and also enjoyed easy access to farm inputs and support to enable them to work better.
According to Mrs. Chahul, “last year, the association was able to activate her offices and structures in five states; instead of the usual method, we were operating which entailed moving from the head office to implement projects in the states where the organisation had presence including Kaduna, Niger, Plateau Nasarawa and Cross River. Kwara State was made active early this year in January.
“I am glad to announce also that members of the association have moved from around 300 in 2012 to over 12,000 presently, with more than 12 different projects and programs implemented by the organisation to touch the lives of the smallholder women and other vulnerable populations across different thematic areas.
“Cited above are a few of the achievements recorded by the association over the past years. We intend to take a look at all we have achieved and then plan on how to grow the association, its membership, and its presence across the country, all aimed at touching the lives of more smallholder women farmers in the country.
“And we have our parent Ministries with us to provide guidance and witness as we carry on,” she added.
The meeting was attended by representatives of the Federal Ministries, the General Congress, Board Members, Association Management, State Directors of WIA, State coordinators, staff, and officers of the association.
The meeting also observe a minute silence in honour of the life of the founder and immediate past board chairman of the association, Mrs. Florence Abeda who was buried recently praying that her vision for the good of the women farmers and youth in the country would not be allowed to die.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that about 805 million people of the 7.3 billion people in the world, representing a ratio of one in nine, suffered from chronic undernourishment from 2012-2014.
Almost all the hungry people, 791 million, live in developing countries, representing 13.5 percent, or one in eight, of the population of developing counties.
