By Fasilat OLUWUYI

HADIZAH Sunday, a female farmer in the Saki West local government area of Oyo state was excited when she heard of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Anchor Borrowers Programme loan from a friend. She was happy that this would finally boost her farming business. Specifically in terms of expanding her farmland in Ataye, Saki and growing other crops like yam. But her excitement became short-lived. She wasn’t able to access the credit. Her inability and that of other women farmers to access credit has been a huge setback for the farming business in Oyo state.

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In Oyo state, women farmers in rural communities’ struggle to access credit, gender-friendly farm implements and other supports despite numerous agricultural interventions by the government. This is compounded by insecurity in the state as herders’ cattle often destroy their crops.

Gender inequality in loan disbursement

In Nigeria, women make 70-80 per cent of the agriculture workforce, especially rural women, according to reports by the Civil Resource and Documentation Centre (CIRDC) and the Women Advocate Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC). Women farmers are believed to be responsible for a higher per cent of the food produced for consumption in the country, yet gender inequalities continue to exist in the farming business.

One of the oldest initiatives managed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is the Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund (ACGSF) in collaboration with the federal government through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD). This fund guarantees up to 75 per cent of every credit extended to farmers under the scheme in case of any eventuality that may lead to loan repayment default.

While the credit support is targeted at both male and female farmers, findings show that the scheme has continued to benefit more male farmers in Oyo state than female farmers.

According to the gender data in the ACGSF report of the CBN, a total of N2,859,844,000 billion was given out as credit to 16,815 farmers in Oyo state from 2015 and 2022.

The report revealed that male farmers got the highest amount totalling N661,345,000 while female farmers got N289,900,000 between 2015 and 2020.

In 2015, a total of 4,028 beneficiaries got the sum of N749,949,050 as loan support in Oyo state, out of which 2,753 male farmers received N601,602,050 while 1,273 female farmers got N135,315,000.

Similarly, in 2016, the sum of N585, 335,000 loan was given to 5,228 beneficiaries. Out of this, 2,683 male farmers got N403,050,000 while 2,545 female farmers received N182,285,000.

From 2017, women’s access to credit facilities started to shrink and the number of women beneficiaries in Oyo started to decrease further. Out of a total of N307,405,000 given to 2,158 beneficiaries in 2017, 1,468 male farmers received N245,810,000 while 689 female farmers got N57,895,000. In 2018, 1,200 male farmers got the sum of N234, 925,000 as loan support with only 173 women getting N27,560,000.

From January to October 2020, ACGSF data on gender disaggregation of beneficiaries of CBN loan shows that men continued to get the larger chunk of loan support even though women account for 70-80 per cent of the agriculture workforce.

Out of the total sum of N162,420,000 given to a total of 815 beneficiaries, 691 men got N140, 260,000 while only 124 women received the sum of N22,160,000.

Findings from the CBN report on the ACGSF loan show that the gender data of beneficiaries were missing from its 2019, 2021 and 2022 reports.

Sakirat Adeniran has been farming for 30 years in Tokun Idode Oyo East local government.

She has not benefited from any loan support from either the CBN or the state government.

Sakirat grows maize, cassava, cowpeas among others and went alongside other female farmers to her local government secretariat to enquire about the loan as this would help her to increase her yields.

She was directed to visit a microfinance bank, but after two fruitless attempts, she gave up hope. ‘‘We only hear about all the loan support that the government is giving out to farmers. We did not benefit from it. Women hardly benefit from all the money they have been lending farmers,” she laments.

Another female farmer in Oyo East LGA, Suabatu Musbau, who has been into farming for over 20 years growing crops such as beans, maize amongst others, narrated how in her attempt to get a loan was made to submit passport

Another female farmer in Oyo East LGA, Suabatu Musbau, who has been into farming for over 20 years growing crops such as beans, maize amongst others, narrated how in her attempt to get a loan was made to submit passport photographs at different times, took pictures and paid a certain amount of money yet did not get the loan.

The story of women farmers in Iseyin and Saki East local government areas is not different. They lamented how the inability to access credit to finance their farming has been a huge challenge and setback despite many agricultural interventions, loans and other credit facilities available for farmers in the state. These are women who are either breadwinners and or are supporting their husbands, children and extended families financially for survival.

After hearing about the loan opportunity to help farmers in the state, Baliqees Adebayo who has been into farming for over 30 years growing crops like cassava and others in Ibarapa central submitted passport photographs and BVN all to no avail.

The Anchor borrowers programme

The Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) launched by former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 was created to support farmers in accessing credit to finance farming and increase agricultural productivity in the country.

The ABP loan was designed to deepen financial inclusion and grow smallholder farmers from subsistence to commercial farming with targeted beneficiaries as smallholder farmers and medium to large-scale farmers who are engaged in the production of agricultural commodities in Nigeria.

Though the CBN claimed it had disbursed a total of N1.1 trillion, smallholder women farmers across the five LGAs; Oyo East; Iseyin; Saki West, Saki East and Ibarapa Central in Oyo rural communities interviewed said they were yet to benefit from any government loan. Over the years, CBN reports have consistently omitted the gender disaggregation of ABP’s beneficiaries, despite the application form mandating intended beneficiaries to specify their gender.

Women are left out

According to a 2022 report by the Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Gender Centre of Excellence, about 98 per cent of Nigerian women are unable to get loans from Nigerian financial institutions. The report says women in rural areas and those with low education and limited decision-making power are excluded from credit facilities. The statistics reflect the challenges of women farmers in the five LGAs visited who said they were yet to benefit from any loan intervention despite their efforts.

Gender differences in loan approvals, the report recommended, should be documented. Analysing gender-disaggregated data would help to reveal the implicit biases in the supply of formal financial services. Highlighting the inequalities smallholder women farmers face, Small-Scale Women Farmers Organisation in Nigeria (SWOFON) Oyo state, in its charter of demand noted that though intervention programmes such as that of CBN and the World Bank Fadama exist in the state, its members have not benefited from any.

Aside the ACGSF Fund and the Anchor Borrowers Programme of the CBN, the Oyo State Agriculture Development Agency (OYSADA) said it has provided a series of interventions and support to farmers in the state. Over N207 billion was allocated to the Oyo State Ministry of Agriculture between 2019 and 2023. The Oyo State Agric credit corporation was allocated over N527 million in five years between 2019 and 2023. Women farmers interviewed in the five LGAs said they did not benefit from these interventions despite efforts in applying for loans.

One of them, Suaibatu Musbau, a farmer in Oyo East LG said, “The government made many promises to give us bags of fertiliser but these promises are empty.”

[Also, Sakirat Adeniran in the same LG lamented that farm support like seedlings and other farm implements did not get to them.

“They did not help or allow anything to get to us. There’s nothing like support for us”. Similarly, Rukayat Lukman in Iseyin also said there’s no form of support adding that money to buy drugs, sprayers for weed and others is a huge challenge.

Ineffective National gender policy on agriculture

In 2019, the National Gender Policy on Agriculture was introduced in Nigeria. The policy, according to Sabo Nanono, the then minister of agriculture was aimed at enhancing the equality of access to resources by farmers.

“The National Gender Policy in Agriculture is expected to drastically reduce the vulnerability of women to biases in agriculture, address the unequal gender power relation and bridge gender gap,” Nanono said.

Four years later, the policy has yet to reduce gender inequalities in the agricultural sector.

Battle with insecurity

Aside from the inequalities in agricultural intervention programmes, the financial constraints and lack of support from the government faced by women farmers in Oyo rural communities, they also contend with insecurity from herders.

Ibijola Aderoju, a farmer and widow in Saki East LGA had planted close to eight hectares of beans this year while expecting to yield a bountiful harvest and bring good profit. Ibijola recounted how one fateful morning while inspecting her farm, she found out her beans have been destroyed by cattle.

‘‘The beans destroyed by the cattle was more than eight hectares of land. They did not allow me to see the reward of my hard work,’’ she laments.

Sakirat Adeniran said she and other women farmers in Oyo East can no longer go to their farms alone for fear of insecurity. According to her, the herders are becoming a threat to them on the farms. She and other women farmers have now resorted to going to their farms accompanied by men for fear since they cannot confront the herders alone.

‘‘Whenever the herders should meet us on the farm, they say they will marry us, and any money they find on us that we are supposed to use for feeding they collect.

We do not know what to do about them anymore, they have taken over our farmland at our side in Tokun, we are helpless.’’

Suabatu Musbau in Oyo East LGA said: ‘‘We can no longer stay on our farm the way we used to do before now. The Fulani are taking over our farms, look down there; they have eaten most of the beans and maize that we planted. They will not let us rest.’’  Women farmers in other LGAs visited also cited insecurity as a challenge on their farms calling on the government and law enforcement agents around the farm to protect them.

In its national development plan 2021-2025, the federal government cited food insecurity as a major concern in the country due to a decline in food security. There have been calls to the state governments to enforce anti-open grazing law promulgated in 2020 but this has not been done. Baliqees Adebayo, a farmer in Ibarapa Central LG said despite their struggles as women farmers, the cattle prevent them from having good harvest. ‘‘If we plant cassava and maize, these cattle do not let us get a good harvest at the end of the day despite all our struggles. We call on the government to come to our aid on this herders’ issue.

Calls for help!

Women farmers in various LGAs in Oyo appeal for urgent support to access interest-free loans, equipment and other forms of assistance to boost their farming activities. “I rely solely on farming for survival. With no other viable employment options, government’s support in the form of interest-free loans would significantly enhance my farming business,” said Suabatu Musbau from Oyo East.

Sakirat Adeniran also in Oyo East LGA expresses her desire to expand her farming business but laments the lack of funding resources. “The government’s neglect is deeply distressing. We, as women farmers, deserve equitable access to government assistance. Despite owning and cultivating significant agricultural land, I am unable to expand my operations due to financial constraints. I implore the government to extend its support to us,” she appeals.

In Ibarapa central, Baliqees stressed the importance of government’s support in the form of interest-free loans, fertiliser, pesticides and gender-sensitive equipment to enhance female farmers’ productivity. Ibijola Aderoju calls for support in acquiring farming equipment and securing loans to improve agricultural practices. Hadizah Sunday from Saki West echoes the sentiments of many women farmers, highlighting the struggles they face without adequate support. She pleads with the government to prioritise assistance for female farmers to alleviate their plight.

Concerns regarding exclusion from farmer associations are also raised by Hadiza who said women are often overlooked in such gatherings.

Investigations across the five LGAs reveal that many rural women farmers are not part of any exclusive women-only farmer associations and lack awareness of organisations like SWOFON designed to address their needs. Rukayat Lukman in Iseyin LGA said she does not belong to any associations because women farmers in the area are never invited to meetings.

‘‘It is only men that attend these meetings. If we women can also gather so they can support us, we would form our own association so they can help us. As they are giving farmers support items like fertiliser, we are yet to receive anything. The men are not even telling us what is going on. We call on the government to assist us so we can also be beneficiaries of these loans by having a separate support for women farmers which will be different from that of men.’’

The Oyo State coordinator for Smallholder Women Farmers Organization in Nigeria, Atinuke Akinbade said most of the support that they got as an association was inadequate to cater to its large members. She said the association was planning to organise a sensitisation rally to reach women farmers in underserved communities who are unaware of SWOFON.

Akinbade said they do not have access to loans. ‘‘We divide ourselves by ten and we contribute money. Aside from this we do not get any other loan support. She called on the government to support women farmers in the state with grants, loans, fertiliser, machines amongst others.

Oyo government reacts

The Director agricultural tech, Oyo State Agriculture Development Agency (OYSADA), Joseph Ilori said it is only responsible for farmers who are medium and large-scale farmers directing that the reporter contacts another department in the agric ministry.

The director, Agricultural Extension Services Oyo State, Razaq Moruf attributed the problem of low access to credit by women farmers to inability to secure guarantors saying some of the loans target certain geographical locations.

Moruf said most of the interventions and programmes in the state such as GIZ and GAIN give 30 percent to women farmers but if the women farmers are not from the LGAs the programmes and interventions are being conducted, they would not benefit.

‘‘Most of the programmes stipulate that 40 percent should be youths, while 30 percent be women and others to partake. So, I would not say they have not been benefiting, it depends on where they are. We try as much as possible to give a substantial part of the allocation to the women farmers. In fact, we have a unit under our department dealing with women called women in Agriculture.’’

This report republished from Weomen Radio was done with support from the Women Radio Centre and the MacArthur Foundation.