The Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) has sought a partnership with the Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria (ARCN) to help move women farmers from subsistence to commercial farming, as part of efforts to improve food security and boost women’s economic empowerment.
The call was made during a courtesy visit by NAWOJ to the council, where the Vice President, Zone D, and Deputy Editor of Blueprint Newspaper, Chizoba Ogbeche, said the association was shifting focus from internal professional development to amplifying the voices of women, the vulnerable, and persons with disabilities.
Ogbeche explained that while NAWOJ was initially formed to strengthen women journalists professionally, the association had since expanded its mission to address broader social and development issues affecting women and other marginalised groups.
She said many women across the six North Central states and the Federal Capital Territory were engaged in farming but remained trapped in subsistence production due to lack of capital and limited access to information, particularly research-based knowledge on improved seedlings and modern farming methods.
According to her, findings from NAWOJ’s engagements with rural women showed that many farmers complained that despite their efforts, their harvests could barely feed their families.
She noted that although relevant agricultural information existed, much of it was not reaching rural women farmers, adding that most materials were in English and not easily accessible to women with little or no formal education.
“Our mission here today is to seek areas where we can partner to provide more information for these women, especially those interested in farming, so that they can do it the best way,” she said.
Ogbeche added that NAWOJ was interested in helping to translate research findings into local languages and present them in a simple, practical, and non-academic manner that farmers could easily understand and apply.
She also linked the initiative to the need to diversify Nigeria’s economy away from overdependence on oil, stressing that agriculture remained the most viable option, given that almost every part of the country could produce crops if farming was better organised and mechanised.
Responding, the Director of Knowledge Management and Communications at ARCN, Dr Nuhu Yusuf, who represented the Executive Secretary, Dr Abubakar Adamu Dabban, described the initiative as timely and in line with the Federal Government’s food security agenda.
Yusuf said the council was open to considering NAWOJ’s proposal, noting that one of ARCN’s major challenges was the dissemination of research findings to farmers at the grassroots.
He said ARCN had 16 research institutes and 17 agricultural colleges across the country, with numerous improved crop varieties and farming methodologies that many farmers were still not aware of.
He added that government had invested heavily in agricultural research and that researchers had developed several innovations, but the major gap remained getting this information to farmers.
Yusuf cited examples of community-based projects in parts of the Federal Capital Territory, where ARCN adopted some villages, established demonstration centres, and exposed farmers to improved crop varieties.
According to him, farmers were shown the difference between local and improved varieties under the same conditions, which encouraged them to adopt the new technologies.
He said collaboration with NAWOJ, through print, radio and television platforms, would help amplify these research outcomes and reach more farmers, including those capable of engaging in large-scale farming.
Also speaking, the Director of Plant Resources at ARCN, Dr Oluwafemi Salako, said women played a major role in agriculture but were often left out of many interventions due to cultural, social and logistical barriers.
Salako noted that in many cases, men were prioritised in agricultural programmes, while women required permission to participate, which limited their involvement.
He suggested that NAWOJ could help bridge the gap by engaging women-focused agricultural associations, translating research outputs into local languages, and supporting wider participation of women in extension activities and field days.
He also pointed out that women were already heavily involved in nutrition, food processing and value addition, stressing that partnerships in these areas could help expand the impact of agricultural research at the community level.
On his part, the Director of Extension at ARCN, Duropitan Olugbade Isaiah, said the low adoption of agricultural innovations was not due to lack of information alone, but also fear of risk and low awareness among farmers.
He said although the council had established several agricultural research centres, including in the FCT, many farmers were still hesitant to embrace new interventions.
According to him, there was a need for more awareness campaigns and practical success stories to show farmers that research-based innovations could significantly improve productivity.
He added that organising women into associations and targeting them with focused information and guidance would help increase adoption and improve agricultural outcomes.
Both NAWOJ and ARCN agreed to explore areas of collaboration aimed at improving access to information, training and research outputs for women farmers, with the goal of helping more women transition from subsistence to commercial farming.
