Advancing agriculture with women.

The world of women, they say is filled with several obligations. These obligations most times are said to surpass that of men. However, the debate on that still remains up in the air. What is incontrovertible however, is that the presence of women in the world has immensely contributed to the achievements recorded thus far. On the home front, the woman is seen as the home maker and builder. At the religious end, women are regarded as help mates to the men. In economic circles, the women are seen as better managers of resources – termed to be meager and inadequate – than men. With these and many more attributes in mind, the world sets aside March 8 every year as a day to celebrate women. According to the International Women’s Day, the day is set aside to “celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. “International Women’s Day (IWD) has been observed since in the early 1900’s – a time of great expansion and turbulence in the industrialized world that saw booming population growth and the rise of radical ideologies. International Women’s Day is a collective day of global celebration and a call for gender parity. No one government, NGO, charity, corporation, academic institution, women’s network or media hub is solely responsible for International Women’s Day. “Many organizations declare an annual IWD theme that supports their specific agenda or cause, and some of these are adopted more widely with relevance than others,” the website noted. In agriculture, the role of women cannot be underestimated. Being the official home makers, the onus lies on them to ensure the adequate availability of food to satisfy the household. According to internationally comparable data, women comprise an average of 43 percent of the agricultural labour force of developing countries. This implies the conscious involvement of women in agriculture. It is noteworthy that the involvement of women in agriculture in Africa has experienced a surge. Food and Agriculture Organization statistics shows that women in Nigeria are fully involved in agricultural activities. With this year’s campaign theme: #PledgeforParity, women are rising demand for the conducive environment to help them harness the limitless potentials they possess in social, economic, cultural and political economy, business as well as in agriculture. With this campaign hitting the waves, there is a sincere attitude of the women to give in more to every facet of living as well as contribute their quota to the advancement of the world. To achieve this, there is need to actually ensure the exposure of women to the requisite education, information, science and technology, and extension services. This will definitely improve productivity, expand ownership and reach.