The prices of goods and services increased across Nigeria following the removal of fuel subsidies by the federal government in May 2023. The development contributed to the skyrocketing costs of farm inputs, putting farmers in a difficult situation. While large-scale farmers may withstand the burden, the impact is damning for small-scale farmers, especially women. In this report, Nurudeen Akewushola details the struggle of women farmers in Nasarawa State amid the rising cost of living in the country. This story also highlights a lack of policy implementation, which worsens their predicaments. 

Last year, during the planting season, Cecilia Nekrel, a 32-year-old farmer based in Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital, planted groundnut, guinea corn, melon, and other varieties of cereal crops on six hectares of land. But her hope of feeding her family and turning a profit from harvested produce this year has been dashed.

The farmland she got at N10,000 per hectare the previous year has now doubled. Worse for the mother of six, the harvests she set aside for re-planting got infested by pests, as pesticides have now become a luxury she can no longer afford.

The challenges Nekrel faces, however, are beyond land and agricultural inputs. The male labourers she relies on to plough and tend the land now demand increased wages. Last year, she paid each of them N1,000 per ridge, but this year they want the amount tripled, citing the high cost of fuel and transportation.

As the rainy season approaches, Nekrel says she can only afford to plant guinea corn and maize on a single hectare — her lowest in the past five years as a farmer. 

“We (farmers) are not able to cultivate anything in large quantities this year because the things have become very expensive.

“Getting fertiliser is one big issue because it is ten times the price of herbicide. How are we going to raise the money for the herbicide and fertiliser that we are going to use on the farm?” she lamented.

Since her husband moved out three years ago to pursue a master’s programme in Jos, Nekrel has been the family’s breadwinner. To earn some income and feed her children, she now sells palm oil and works as a part-time elementary school teacher.

The plight facing women farmers like Nekrel is part of a broader crisis across Nasarawa State, where the majority of small-scale women farmers are struggling to cope with soaring input costs and declining profits. 

Contributing factors

The decision by the Tinubu-led administration to remove fuel subsidies upon assuming office in May 2023 has been a major contributing factor to the situation. The policy shift contributed to the increased prices of goods and services nationwide, with women farmers like Nekrel bearing the brunt.

Many have been forced to scale back their farming operations, and some, like Nekrel, have abandoned farming entirely due to the prohibitive costs.

Farming amid hardship

Gloria Ayuba, a 37-year-old farmer based in Lafia, has had to scale back her operations. Last year, she harvested about ten bags of rice and eight bags of groundnut from seven hectares of land during the farming season. But, this year, she is contemplating reducing her inputs due to the high cost of seedlings and fertiliser. 

“The costs of seedlings and fertiliser have become almost unbearable. I’m not sure I can afford to plant as much this season,” Ayuba told The ICIR. 

Even if Ayuba could afford seedlings and fertiliser, the biggest hurdle she faces is finding farmland to cultivate. Earlier this year, the farmland owners she has used for the past three years increased the rent on her assigned three plots from N45,000 to N70,000, forcing her to lose the land.

Compounding Ayuba’s challenges is the high cost of hiring labourers due to a lack of access to gender-friendly equipment. With the onset of the rainy season, her hired labourers, who charged her N4,000 per person last year, are now demanding N7,500 each. But that’s not all she has to worry about. 

The hike in transportation is another threat to Ayuba’s farming operations. To sell her produce and buy necessary farm inputs, she frequents the Dendere market, about 10 minutes from her house by tricycle.

However, the cost of transportation to the market has surged to N400 from N200 and doubles when she has to transport harvested produce and other heavy goods. 

Ayuba says she now treks to the market to manage expenses and keep her farming business afloat, noting that this has negatively impacted her income.

With no steady income from farming, the single mother of two has had to withdraw her children from the local community school. Now that they spend all day at home, it has become even more difficult to feed them. 

With no husband to support her, she says she and her two children will have to survive mostly on Garri, a food product derived from cassava.

For Victoria Alkali, 45, another farmer based in Angwan Waziri, soaring inflation and limited access to crucial agricultural loans is a huge challenge.

Due to her inability to pay the recently raised rent rate, she almost lost the land she used to plant maize and millet last year after the landowners increased the rent from N9,000 to N23,000 per hectare.

This year, as rising prices threaten her farming operations, she says her nine children will have to feed on cassava flour because it is cheaper.

“The prices of food have never been this high. There are times we sleep without food. Sometimes, you feel like you want to eat corn meal, but it costs between 1,300 and 1,500 naira per mudu. You end up buying cassava flour instead, which is cheaper but not your desired meal,” she said. 

Most days, her children go to school on an empty stomach but on fairly good days, they take madidi, a thick porridge, gel-like fermented starchy food item made from millet, as breakfast and don’t eat anything else until dinner.

As a single mother, Alkali’s only hope is relying on some support from the government, but whether her hope will be realised remains to be seen.

Failed government support, promises 

Since the beginning of the year, when the cost of living spiked, the government of Nasarawa State claims it has provided continuous support to farmers to ease the hardship. For instance, in February 2024, the state government announced plans to distribute 26,000 bags of fertiliser to smallholder farmers.

The state governor, Abdullahi Sule, who made this pledge during an interview in Abuja after a courtesy visit to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (FMAFS), stated that the initial plan was to distribute 13,000 bags, but it would be doubled to 26,000 bags to further elevate agricultural productivity. 

But many smallholder women farmers, including Alkali, who spoke to The ICIR, say they have never benefited from any of the government’s support programmes and initiatives since the removal of fuel subsidy.

When contacted by The ICIR, the Nasarawa State commissioner for agriculture, Umar Abubakar Dan’akano, could not provide an account of the 26,000 bags of fertiliser promised for distribution since February to smallholder farmers, claiming they were not directly from the ministry. 

 “Those ones you are talking about are NG-cares programmes. I can’t explain them in detail. Including the 26,000 bags of fertiliser. They are interventions from NG-care. It’s not from the ministry,” the commissioner said. 

In May this year, the Nasarawa State government, as part of the Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL) programme, rolled out a $250,000 loan initiative borrowed from the World Bank. The interest-free loan was distributed to 620 farmers from 10 local communities, according to Joy Iganya-Agene, the task team leader of ACReSAL.

However, out of the 620 farmers who reportedly benefited from the loan, only 253 were women, indicating a wide gender disparity in the distribution. Notably, of the 253 women, none of the women farmers under the Small Scale Women Farmers of Nigeria (SWOFON) umbrella, including Alkali, received anything. 

The state government has yet to disclose how it selected its list of 620 beneficiaries. There is also no publicly accessible data on the beneficiaries. When asked about the loan distribution and the list of the 620 beneficiaries, the commissioner, Dan’akano, fummed: “Don’t ask me that question. I told you they are NG-care programmes”.

The COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus Program Project (NG-Cares) programme is a $750 million World Bank-funded programme aimed at expanding access to livelihood support and food security services by providing grants to poor and vulnerable households.

According to the state government, Nasarawa State has received about N13.6 billion from the programme since it the program was launched. The government claims that over 11, 000 farmers have benefitted from the project’s agriculture development initiative and 6,000 less privileged persons received N10,000 monthly under conditional cash transfer to improve their livelihood.

On a second call to inquire about the state government’s partnership with NG-care and the method of distribution of the support agriculture development initiative, including the most recent 26,000 bags of fertiliser, the commissioner said he mistook the question and didn’t mean to mention NG-cares. 

The commissioner then claimed that distribution of the 26,000 bags of fertiliser would kick off once approval processes are concluded. He did not specify what kind of approval has delayed the distribution since February. As of the time of filing this report, distribution was yet to commence.

The commissioner further promised that subsequent distributions would consider women farmers, despite not being able to account for how previous interventions have been conducted.

“We will consider them (women farmers). We are going to consider them in the subsequent distributions.

“As I speak to you, there are a lot of arrangements to alleviate the burden of economic hardships on women farmers associations in Nasarawa State. The arrangement regarding that is in top gear, they will be considered in the subsequent interventions,” he said.

In a move to promote gender equity in the agricultural sector, the Nigerian government launched the National Gender Policy in Agriculture in October 2019. The policy set ambitious targets, mandating that at least 50 per cent of all agricultural input distribution, 45 per cent of financing and credit programmes, and 60 per cent of support initiatives must be allocated to women farmers.

Table showing the prices of some selected farm inputs in Nasarawa state before and after removal of fuel subsidy( Source: Market survey and SWOFON women). Data collection date: May 22, 2024.

However, findings show that the implementation of this policy has been lacking, particularly in Nasarawa State. 

The lack of progress in implementing the policy’s mandates also contravenes Nigeria’s obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which the country has ratified.

CEDAW obligates signatory states to take steps to end discrimination against women and ensure their full participation in all spheres of life, including access to land, credit, and income in the agricultural sector.

The failure of the state government to provide support tailored to women amid the economic situation is forcing many women out of agriculture, and Nigeria’s overall productivity in the sector is suffering. This is particularly worrisome given the critical role women play in the agricultural workforce; they account for 70 per cent of agricultural workers and 80 per cent of food producers. 

With women’s contribution to the sector being threatened by inflationary pressures, the agricultural industry, which makes up about 26 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), is now at risk of further decline, and government support isn’t getting where it is needed. 

Women farmers seek government’s intervention

A cross-section of women farmers who spoke with The ICIR across various local government areas in Nasarawa State said they have not received any support from the government despite the hardship they are facing. According to the women, they hear about the government’s announcements of distributing palliatives and other support in the news but it never reaches them. 

“The palliatives, we are not seeing it. We only used to hear they give a palliative somewhere or a particular community get help from the government or they are giving loan or grant in the news, we have never seen or received any of it as women farmers,” Nafisatu Salisu told The ICIR.

According to the coordinator of the Small-Scale Women Farmers Organisation in Nigeria (SWOFON) in Nasarawa State, Jumai Yohanna, this is the reality of over 14,000 farmers in the state’s network, and it is similar for many other SWOFON members nationwide, she asserted.  

In an interview with The ICIR, Yohanna said that the high cost of living and the government’s opaque allocation of agricultural finance and input support have rendered life intolerable for farmers in Nasarawa State.

“If they want to know how these grants can reach us, we will tell them. The way they distribute aid, we only hear on the radio that we are receiving something, but it’s always not true. It never reaches us.”

According to Yohanna, initiating a partnership with the association is one way to improve distribution and ensure that the government’s support programmes are tailored to the needs of the women farmers.

However, she also pointed out that securing government loans has been challenging for most women farmers due to the rigorous protocols involved. She explained that the processes are not localised and even when the women farmers manage to meet all the requirements, their efforts do not yield results.

 “They used to ask us to submit an account number, and bring collateral such as car, house, land but even if you provide all these, you will not get anything,” she said.

 These steep collateral requirements go against the gender mainstreaming strategy contained in the National Gender Policy in Agriculture. 

Recognising that women may not be able to raise such collateral, the policy advocates for the reduction of collateral requirements and the use of alternative forms of security that are more accessible to women. 

 The Nasarawa state government has not only consistently ignored the gender mainstreaming strategies outlined in the National Gender Policy in Agriculture but has left women farmers out of its support programmes, unable to account for or publicly showcase beneficiaries of interventions running into multiple billions of naira. 

 In 2012, a group of women farmers formed a cooperative loan organisation called Village Savings and Loan (VSL). This was in response to their limited access to government credit and loans over the years. 

The VSL model involves members contributing small amounts that are pooled together, allowing the group to provide support and financial assistance to one another. 

More than a decade later, the VSL initiative remains a crucial lifeline for these women farmers, helping them navigate financial hardships and enabling them to maintain their farms and sustain their livelihoods.

 To further drive down production costs, the women say they are now replacing commercial fertiliser with do-it-yourself (DIY), organic fertiliser.

Women farmers resort to cheaper alternatives

Women farmers who spoke with The ICIR said they now supplement commercial fertiliser with more organic compost, such as animal manure, and livestock waste, to fertilise their farms due to the high cost of chemical fertiliser. 

Findings by The ICIR showed that 50 kg of urea, the most common fertiliser used by farmers across Nigeria, used to cost N25,000, but is now sold at N65,000. Similarly, 50 kg of NPK fertiliser 15:15:15 has risen to N55,000 from N30,000. 

 “Sometimes I use potash gotten from fire, I will mix it with the dirt, ” Nekrel explained while narrating how she prepares homemade pesticide.

“I also use animals such as chicken waste, (as fertiliser) but due to hot weather chickens hardly survive so I use the faeces obtained from those that survive. Also, I use goat and pig faeces as fertiliser,” she said.

Another farmer, Yohannah Emmanuel, 30, who is a resident of Ungwan Ali, says she often gathers groundnut shells after consumption or processing. The shells are taken to the farm, where they are to be used directly as organic fertiliser. Over time, the shells decompose, adding nutrients and improving soil structure.

Sometimes, instead of using the groundnut shells directly, she burns them to create ash. The ash is then collected and used as fertiliser. She also sometimes combines it with human excrement. The groundnut shell ash and faeces are spread over the farm to enrich the soil with essential nutrients that can aid plant growth. 

“That’s what’s helping us,” Emmanuel said, adding: “I don’t have the money to buy fertiliser. Even if I want to buy one, sometimes they sell fake fertilisers in the market. When you go and spray it on your farm, you will have to weed the farm all over again.”

For Alkali, using chicken and cow dung as manure has saved her the high cost of fertilisers. She noted that the inability to afford herbicides exposes her crops to infection. 

“Only rich people can afford to buy fertiliser now because of how costly they have become. I always want to buy herbicides and pesticides, but when I get to the store and see the high prices, I have to find low-cost alternatives,” Alkali explained.

 While women smallholder farmers widely embrace organic composting and manure as a more cost-effective and eco-friendly fertilising practice, they often face the challenge of slower results than chemical alternatives.

Experts have noted that organic fertilisers like animal waste and shell ash have a slower, more gradual impact on crop yields compared to synthetic fertilisers.

Way forward

A report by Cadre Harmonise, a regional initiative focused on food and nutrition analysis indicates that over 5 million Nigerians are at risk of food insecurity between June and August 2024. 

With agricultural productivity declining, experts in the agricultural sector who spoke with The ICIR emphasised an urgent need for macroeconomic stability, improved infrastructure, and targeted support for women farmers to mitigate increasing threats to food production.

 Razaq Fatai, head of research and advisory at Vestance, an agriculture-focused consulting firm, identified the depreciation of the Nigerian currency as one of the major reasons responsible for the increasing cost of farm inputs in the country, urging the government to boost crude oil production to stabilise the currency.

“The agricultural sector does not operate in isolation. Input prices are often determined by exchange rates. If the Nigerian currency depreciates, inputs become more expensive. To stabilise input prices, we need to boost crude oil production. If we can increase crude oil production to around two million barrels per day, it will increase dollar inflows and help stabilise the currency,” Fatai said.

Fatai also pointed out the need to focus on macroeconomic stability, capacity development, and resource access. He added that these steps will help farmers get better prices for their goods and ensure continuous capacity development and market access.

“Productivity in Nigeria is still very low for almost all commodities compared to other countries. We need to invest heavily in improving the quality of seedlings to boost productivity. More importantly, we need to ensure farmers adopt these better seeds. We need a support system to help farmers access and use quality inputs. This includes investments in better seeds and scaling access to them.”

He also called for extensive government support for women farmers and recommended investing in capacity development for women farmers on best farming practices. 

On his part, the founder of Community Action for Food Security (CAFS Africa), Azeez Salawu, explained that the socio-economic implications of the high cost of living could result in a decline in agricultural productivity, leading to decreased food availability and worsening food insecurity in the country.

He urged the government to provide direct financial support for essential farm inputs to reduce production costs and invest in infrastructure and market access to enable farmers to sell their produce at fair prices, thereby reducing post-harvest loss and increasing their income.

Salawu further urged the government to increase access to affordable credit tailored to women farmers, enabling them to invest in productivity-enhancing technologies. He suggested providing capacity-building sessions to enhance their skills in modern farming techniques and business development. 

He also called for integrated support systems encompassing financial assistance, training, and other services to empower women farmers, stressing the importance of strategically including women farmers in policy formulation to address their specific needs and foster a sense of belonging.

This report republished from Crispng was made possible with support from the International Budget Partnership (IBP), and the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, (ICIR) under the Strengthening Public Accountability For Results and Knowledge (SPARK 2) project.