A Professor of Agricultural Economics at Kwara State University (KWASU), Malete, Taibat Moji Yusuf, has called for reforms to remove barriers limiting women’s access to land, credit and other resources in Nigeria’s agricultural sector.
Yusuf made the call on Wednesday while delivering the university’s 23rd Inaugural Lecture, titled, “Empowering Women Farmers in Nigeria: Closing the Gender Gap for Agricultural Transformation and Food Security.”
Drawing on more than three decades of research, she said empowering women farmers was essential to increasing agricultural productivity, improving food security and reducing poverty.
She urged the government to reform inheritance laws to guarantee women the right to own and inherit land regardless of their marital status, while encouraging joint land ownership among married couples. She said discriminatory land practices often prevent women from accessing agricultural credit and other productive resources.
Yusuf also called for gender-inclusive financing, including microcredit schemes that do not require land as collateral. She urged financial institutions to develop loan products suited to women farmers and expand digital financial services to rural communities.
She recommended reforms to agricultural extension services, including recruiting more female extension officers, offering flexible training schedules and using mobile platforms to deliver advisory services in local languages.
The professor also called for greater investment in rural infrastructure, including water, electricity and childcare facilities, as well as access to mechanised processing equipment and other labour-saving technologies to reduce the burden on women farmers.
She urged greater support for adult literacy, agricultural training, cooperatives, agro-processing and entrepreneurship, alongside improved roads, storage facilities, transportation, cold-chain systems and market information to reduce post-harvest losses and increase farmers’ earnings.
Yusuf further advocated public-private partnerships to expand contract farming and agricultural credit programmes, while recommending the promotion of eco-friendly technologies such as moringa-based bio-organic fertiliser through extension services and cooperative production networks.
On policymaking, she called for mandatory gender-impact assessments of agricultural programmes, greater representation of women on agricultural boards and farmers’ unions, dedicated funding for gender-responsive initiatives and stronger monitoring of their outcomes.
Yusuf said efforts to address food insecurity must be linked to broader poverty-reduction measures covering employment, education and healthcare. With an estimated 140 million Nigerians living below the poverty line, she said closing the gender gap in agriculture was both an issue of equity and a key strategy for transforming the agricultural sector and improving food security.
