Laraba MUREY
PropCom+, the UK funded eight-year programme funded through the Foreign and Commonwealth DevelopmentOffice, FCDO, says it is committed to at least 50 percent of women are the beneficiaries of its climate-smart agriculture initiative.
The objective, the programme says, is part of efforts to transform rural livelihoods and boost Nigeria’s food security.
Speaking during a 3-day media training on Climate-Smart Agriculture Reporting and Field Tour of Propcom+ interventions in Yola, on Tuesday , Country Representative/Political Director, Propcom+, Dr Adiya Ode,
explained that the programme aims to reach 3.7 million farmers by 2030, with women forming 50 percent of the number.
She said, “Our target for the program by 2030, we aim to have transformed the lives of 3.79 million smallholder farmers and SMEs.
“We expect that they should have had increased incomes and they should be more resilient to the impact of climate change.
“So we want the rural economy to be resilient to the impact of climate change. Because climate change is inevitable. There are efforts to stop or reduce climate change, but the efforts to reduce are not at pace with the impact.
“So in the interim, we have to increase people’s ability to function in the face of those impacts. So that’s what we’re here for. 50% of that 3.79 million must be women.
“We all know the headsmen or clashes, even other communal clashes over land resources was still going on. We also had issues with agricultural productivity, very low agricultural productivity, low access to inputs, low access to finance for agriculture, a low level of female participation in agriculture, smallholder farmers were just eating out a living, not really supported in spite of the many schemes that we had in the country. We also had now new issues emerging, climate change.
“And our big banner aim is to transform the rural economy. The rural economy is mainly based on agriculture. And we want to transform agriculture so that the smallholder farmers and SMEs who are dependent on agriculture for a living and for their livelihoods can have decent livelihoods and can have increased incomes.”
According to Adiya, the programme has been deliberate about working with women farmers through seed multiplication initiatives and collaborations with women’s groups.
“They will be working with farmers to multiply seeds on their farms and promoting the sale of seeds within their communities. And we always push for women farmers to be included. Many of our partners even prefer to work with women because they say women are very honest; they won’t side-sell, they will pay you, and you get your money back. Women are committed to the farming,” she said.
Highlighting some of the ongoing work, she noted that members of the Smallholder Women Farmers Organization of Nigeria (SWOFON) are already benefiting.
“It would interest you to know that we have been doing quite a lot of work with women and SWOFON in particular. Right now, 32 SWOFON members are working with some of our partners in Gombe and Adamawa States. Even in Katsina State, we are working with SWOFON. So we are committed, we really take our mandate to work with women very seriously,” she added.
She also noted that the programme is working closely with government agencies to strengthen the enabling environment.
“When we work on the enabling environment, we have to engage government actors, and we are doing that in many of the states. In some states, for instance, Bauchi and Plateau, we are only working with market actors. But in the dark blue states, we work directly with government actors.”
The Director of Strategy at Propcom+, Dr. Olumide Ojo, explained that the programme deliberately adopts a market-systems approach, ensuring that local actors take the lead while Propcom+ works in the background.
“Our role is to facilitate, support, and enable, not to dominate the space. We don’t work directly with small-holder farmers; we support the seed companies, processors, and aggregators who link with them. That way, interventions are sustainable, and markets are not distorted by donor visibility,” he said.
He highlighted three central pillars of Propcom+: expanding proven agricultural solutions such as seed processing and distribution models; experimenting with innovations that engage women and youth in climate-resilient farming; and shaping policies that make climate-smart practices accessible and cost-effective.
Dr. Ojo also noted that the programme regularly carries out scenario planning to anticipate possible shockswhether from climate events or policy changes so it can adapt its strategies quickly.
