WOMEN farmers in Ebonyi have advocated that the government should provide credit facilities with single-digit interest rates to smallholder women farmers for ease of repayment.
They also urged the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources to collaborate with the women farmers during budget preparation to accommodate their needs in the budget.
These challenges and more were made known to journalists during the dissemination of a report on Community Participatory Assessment of Government Expenditure on Agriculture and the Scorecard on Smallholder Women Farmer’s Access to Credit Facilities in the State.
Participatory Development Alternatives, a Nongovernmental Organisation, based in Ebonyi State conducted the assessment across Ebonyi LGAs under the Scaling Up Public Investment in Agriculture Project.
The project was supported by Actionaid-Nigeria. The women during the meeting on Friday in Abakiliki explained that the grants were not always accessible to them, and appealed to the government to address the issue as budget preparation for the next Fiscal year commenced.
Mark Abani Executive Director of Participatory Development Alternatives represented by Ugochi Joseph programme officer, in a presentation, explained that a greater number of Smallholder Women Farmers who participated in the assessment preferred agricultural grants to loans.
She emphasised that smallholder women farmers having access to credit loans on time will boost their farm produce and curb food insecurity in the state.
“Seven per cent of smallholder women farmers who indicated that they have received agricultural credits from the government said they received grants, hence there was no need for repayment.
“The remaining 93 per cent of the respondents said that though they have not received any credit from the government, it is not easy to repay because the interest rates are too high.
“So, they would prefer grants, unless the interest rates are single digit and moratoriums given.”
The report read, “For the past four years (2020-2023), the State Ministry of Agriculture has continuously allocated funds for credit facilities in the state’s agricultural budget, yet there has never been any fund releases or expended to provide these services to smallholder farmers, especially women.”
Nnenna Ibiam, former National Secretary, SWOFON, in her submission, appealed to the government to provide specific needs of small-scale women farmers in the budget.
“I want to say that all grants, inputs, capacity building and other forms of assistance meant for the women should be given to them directly through their cooperatives”.
Chukwuma Ede Head of Agricultural Services, Ministry of Agriculture, expressed dismay with the challenges facing women farmers in Ebonyi and opined that there should be more collaboration among the critical stakeholders to achieve the goal.
Ede emphasized that for the country to overcome food security women farmers need serious encouragement from the government.
