In Support of More Female-led Startups  in Agriculture

By Bennett Oghifo

Globally, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), there are approximately 187 million women-owned enterprises, many of which are in the agricultural sector. 
In Africa, women play a crucial role as key agents of change in agriculture and  nutrition, leading to sustainable  food systems. But they  struggle to scale particularly due to lack of proper training needed to help them scale their operations as well as support and guidance  tap into diverse financial sources such as loans, grants, equity and crowdfunding. The African Union InterAfrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR)  Inception  Workshop which is held in Abuja exposed them to training to build market linkages and value chains that enhance their competitiveness and profitability.

Dr. Mrs. Zainab Hammanga, a retired Director of Investment and Consultancy, Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), while in service was always on the search for information that will lead to the development of the Small and Medium Enterprise sector. Her responsibilities zeroed on working to promote the utilisation of Nigeria’s abundant raw materials in line with the RMRDC’s mandate of developing Nigerian raw materials as input for sustainable growth and development.

But she has since retired into farming and has been supporting  organisations empowering women to make meaningful change  in the agric industry. She was one of the participants who attended The African Union InterAfrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR)  inception  Workshop  which was held from October 16 through 18. Her experience was that the event  brought a variety of thinking that was   going to increase the options to the agric industry. Though there are challenges in the industry, she  encouraged more women to take that step forward into the space, adding that there are opportunities there for them.

According to her, “The  agricultural industry needs to embrace more women  to succeed.”
She said  it was vital for the industry to encourage more women to work in agriculture.
Another participant, who shared her experience was Halima Isah. She is a young entrepreneur based  in Abuja. She  has seen  both small- and large-scale livestock farmers struggle to feed their cows in the North, where sometimes a large part of a state would suffer  from the worst drought. Consequently, arranging fodder for  the  cows had become a  challenge.
She noted: “ I would want the government to support farmers to embrace hydroponic feed and fodder production. “ According to her, the  technology ,which involves growing plants without soil and by using mineral nutrients dissolved in water, is one of the  innovations aimed at improving production of and can be  promoted  in areas grappling with water and fodder scarcity.

According to her, the barriers to  women making in agriculture are increasing, adding that they need all the support to successfully break through the glass ceiling in the agribusiness industry.
Throughout  the session, it was about challenges women face along the entire agricultural value chain. The consensus that more solutions were needed to address the gender-specific challenges they face to boost their participation as they struggle to sustain and scale-up their agribusinesses into well-organized profitable enterprises. Many cited cases of denial of access to finance, made difficult by the banks’ request for collateral in the form of land and other tangible assets.

Despite this, Isah and others maintained that women are central for Nigeria’s agricultural transformation  and must be supported to  grow  in the livestock sector.
She  added that there was the  need for the government to entice a new generation of Nigerians to  practice value-added agriculture  as lack of support has dissuaded  youth  from pursuing opportunities in the sector.

While the desire of the government  to empower women to make them self-reliant is strong, she maintained that  the resources needed to support them to take off are wanting.
The African Union InterAfrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) Resilient African Feed and Fodder Systems (RAFFS) Project Officer, Dr Sarah Ashanut Ossiya  said one way to increase  women earning capacity is to move them from the  cycle of  poverty to growth, employment, by encouraging entrepreneurial activities. She  said  AU-IBAR established the African Women in Animal Resources Farming and Agribusiness Network (AWARFA-N) to support entrepreneurial activities and equip them to  become agricultural  entrepreneurs.  She  said   AU-IBAR, working with AWARFA-N, wants increased incomes, revenues, and jobs by women-led agric and other businesses.

She noted that the project encompasses agriculture and food security and  women  entrepreneurship.

Resource person and Managing Partner, Knight & Bishop Consultancy, Mope Abudu  while addressing the participants on the need to formalize their businesses, explained that many farmers lack official documents which would help them  explore huge opportunities to support their growth, and  increase profitability.

In order to break the poverty cycle, she indicated that  agripreneurs  should be able to utilize business processes and resources to convert agricultural commodities into products that  can compete in the export market.

She stressed the need for women in agriculture to be more market-oriented and focused on adding value to produce.

During the launch of AWARFA-N, Country Programme Officer, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Chioma Adiele-Okpara described women as strong  entrepreneurs that have become important sources of innovation, job creation, and economic growth, and  actors in every aspect of the agriculture value chain.  

She said IFAD was ready to  work with  AWARFA-N to empower women entrepreneurs in the agriculture sector .

She  said the organisation supports projects that connect  women entrepreneurs  with opportunities to  explore the food system resilience.

Chairperson , AWARFA-N, Dr Chinyere Ikechukwu-Eneh  indicated the organisation was championing women entrepreneurs in agriculture, to  support household and nation economic growth.

According to her, the goal of AWARFA-N was to bridge the gender gap in the food system and is essential for enhancing the resilience of the sector  in the face of climate change and economic shocks.

She said the organisation would  prioritize  strategies that dismantle barriers faced by women entrepreneurs in accessing finance, markets, technology, training among others.
She said efforts will be made to encourage networking, engagement  with women in the local communities to facilitate access to crucial resources such as information, skills and opportunities.

In addition to community engagement, she said an issue of  paramount importance  was to develop resilience in  the ability of women to overcome obstacles hindering the survival and success of their agribusinesses.