By Hamza Abaga
The Niger State chapter of Small-Scale Women Farmers Organisation in Nigeria (SWOFON) has lamented the lack of a traceable budget allocation for women farmers despite claims that their priorities are captured in the state’s annual budget.
The women farmers raised the concern in Minna during a policy brief and press briefing organised as part of its national campaign on “Accelerating Women Farmers’ Impact Towards Food Security: Women Farmers’ Voice to Action.”
SWOFON said its assessment of its 2019 to 2025 partnership with the International Budget Partnership (IBP) showed that women farmers had made progress in participating in the state’s budget process but stressed that it had not consistently translated into identifiable budgetary allocations and delivery.
The Niger State chapter submitted a Charter of Demands to the government containing priorities including agricultural inputs, mechanisation and processing equipment, land, irrigation, extension services, storage, markets and affordable finance.
According to the assessment, the Charter was acknowledged by relevant government authorities, even though SWOFON could not consistently trace its demands to a specific state appropriation, expenditure and delivery to women farmers.
The organisation said this meant that while its demands had been acknowledged and the government maintained that women farmers were captured in the annual budget, there was no consistent budget trail showing how much was allocated, released and spent on the identified priorities.
While raising concerns about the wider implementation of agricultural budgets in the state, the organisation said agriculture received 8.46 per cent of approved state budgets between 2021 and 2025, leaving a N136.78 billion gap against the 10 per cent benchmark used in its assessment.
The assessment further found that N386.81 billion was approved for agricultural capital spending during the period, but only N198.53 billion was spent, leaving N188.28 billion, representing
48.68 per cent of the approved amount, unspent.
Speaking at the event, SWOFON Niger State Coordinator, Grace Disa, said women farmers played important roles across the agricultural value chain.
“Women farmers are not only producers; we are also processors, marketers, entrepreneurs and key contributors to the food security of our families and communities,” Disa said.
She said the campaign was aimed at bringing women farmers, government officials and other stakeholders together to identify challenges affecting their productivity and seek practical solutions.
Disa said supporting women farmers was necessary to strengthen food production and improve the resilience of the agricultural sector.
The organisation acknowledged that women farmers in Niger State had benefited from agricultural interventions, including farm equipment, processing machinery, pumps, planters, threshing equipment, knapsack sprayers, fertilisers and other inputs.
However, they insisted that the interventions did not address the need for a predictable state-level system through which women farmers’ priorities could be clearly reflected in budgets and tracked to implementation.
Responding to the concerns, the Director of Agricultural Services, Niger State Ministry of Agriculture, Garba Adamu Maikasuwa, said the state government had included SWOFON in its budget as the ministry recognised the contribution of women to agriculture and had introduced what he described as “women-friendly equipment” after engagements with SWOFON.
“I remember when SWOFON came to Niger State, I personally received them when they conducted their rally presenting the Charter of Demand. And behold, that year was the year we included SWOFON in our budgetary provision in Niger State,” he said.
He said the ministry had also been following up on budgetary provisions to ensure that women benefited from government interventions.
“We initiated that in the budget. But I want you to understand that it’s not only an agricultural budget. All other ministries suffer inadequate financing or funding,” he said.
Maikasuwa also questioned the organisation’s call for its participation in the budget process to be institutionalised, saying SWOFON had already been accepted as a partner by the ministry.
He asked the organisation to specify the additional documentation or structures it expected the government to establish to further formalise its participation.
SWOFON, however, maintained that the central issue was not simply whether women farmers were mentioned or included in the budget, but whether their priorities could be traced to specific allocations, releases, expenditure and actual delivery.
The organisation called for the participation of SWOFON and other women farmer organisations to be institutionalised in state and local government agricultural planning and budget processes.
It also urged the government to strengthen monitoring of agricultural funds and provide regular information on releases, expenditure and implementation.
SWOFON further called for improved extension services, market linkages, storage and processing opportunities, while urging stronger measures to address insecurity and other factors affecting women farmers’ access to agricultural land.
The organisation said the next phase of its advocacy would focus on moving women farmers’ priorities from consultation to identifiable policy commitments, budget lines, implementation and verified results.