CSOs advocate bridging 30% gap to help rural women farmers

Civil society organisations (CSOs) on the platform of the International Centre for Environmental Health and Development and the Grassroots Driven Climate Action by Rural Women Farmers in Nigeria have called on all concerned stakeholders to help women gain access to resources to help bridge the 30 percent gap in agriculture to enhance food security.

Speaking at the CSOs/NGOs Climate Finance Workshop, which was held in Abuja on Monday, the CSOs called for greater access to climate financing to address the gender-climate nexus faced by rural women farmers in Nigeria.

Presenting the keynote address, Halima Bawa Bwari, director of the National Council on Climate Change at the Federal Ministry of Environment, said a proportional gender gap studies in 2017 said that there is about 30 percent of that gap, which is likely to widen due to the adverse impact of climate change.

Stating that the workshop aligned with global best practices, Bawa called for national action on climate change to ensure that men are at the centre of climate solutions. Bawa further said that women have the capacity to contribute significantly across sectors such as water management, energy biodiversity consultation, and disaster response despite their many challenges.

“Women often lack access to finance due to systematic issues such as landfill, spiritual, philanthropic climate, and gender biases. These limit our ability to adopt climate resilient practices, renewable energy technologies, and risk management tools like insurance.

“To realise the full potential of women in climate action, we must develop inclusive policies, expand access to finance, enhance capacity building, post-life elaborations, address the inequalities faced by women and advancing climate action at the grassroots level.

“We could look at the possibility of gender with cultural climate financing, gender mainstreaming, access to information, provide online farmers with access to climate information and technology, partnerships,” she noted.

In her presentation entitled, ‘The intersectionality of the gender climate nexus and how it impacts agriculture and gender equality,’ Oloruntosin Taiwo, national coordinator, Rose of Sharon Foundation, noted that In Nigeria, where agriculture accounts for over 20 percent of GDP and employs more than 70 percent of the rural population, the effects of this gender-climate nexus are profoundly felt.

“Rural women farmers are the backbone of agricultural production, yet they bear the brunt of climate-induced stresses such as erratic rainfall, desertification, and resource scarcity. These challenges threaten food security and impede progress toward achieving gender equality and sustainable development,” Taiwo said.

Globally, the intersection of gender and climate change is a critical concern, particularly as climate impacts unequally affect women, especially in agriculture-dependent economies. Climate change exacerbates existing inequalities, restricting women’s access to resources, decision-making, and financial independence. Women, who comprise nearly half of the global agricultural workforce, face unique challenges, including land tenure insecurity, limited access to credit, and exclusion from policymaking processes.

As a solution to the above challenges, Taiwo called on CSOs and NGOs to, among other things, advocate for gender-inclusive policies, facilitate women’s access to climate financing, build capacity for women’s leadership in climate action, foster partnerships between local women’s groups and policymakers, empower women farmers with resources and knowledge, advocate for policies that address the gender-climate nexus and collaborate with stakeholders to amplify impact.