…says FG prioritizes women farmers in agric policies, programmes

By Gabriel Ewepu

ABUJA – THE Special Assistant on Women and Youth Agricultural innovation to the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Omolara Svensson, Monday, asserted that farmers are well-informed about weather forecasts amid the 2025 flood alert the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation released last week.

Svensson stated this during the handover ceremony and swearing in of the new Deputy National Coordinator for the Nigerian Women for Agricultural Progressive and Development Initiative, NWAPDI, Farmer Lucy Pam along with the new Plateau State Coordinator of NWAPDI, Farmer Anyamus Nuhu Magit, and the Coordinator, North Central, NWAPDI, Farmer Faith Emerald Elijah, where she (Svensson) disclosed that the position has been vacant while she was the National Coordinator of the organization before her appointment as the Special Assistant on Women and Youth Agricultural innovation to the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security.

She charged them to lead by example and carry every member along, and avoid gossip and tendencies that can jeopardize their leadership and their states and zone, therefore, should work assiduously to ensure there is unity, cooperation and progress in their activities, where everyone has a sense of belonging.

She added that now she is there serving under the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, who knows the sector properly and as a seasoned professional in food production and agribusiness, and giving her the opportunity to work in this capacity as a farmer with over two decades experience in the sector, women farmers would experience better things coming their way to boost their productivity.

She said the weather forecasts forms mental preparation in the farmer ahead of the disaster, therefore, helps the farmer to put in place all the trainings he or she has gone through on flood prevention strategies or methods to mitigate the impact it comes with.

She said: “This is part of the activities and progress of when we say the administration is being intentional about food security. The information that we have now, or that farmers have now, is we are much more better informed than we were last year, in regards to weather forecasts.

“We are even having our farmers believing more in weather forecasts, and it was not like that in the past. So that alone is a form of mental preparation, which then helps you as a farmer to put in place all the trainings that we have been going through on how to prevent flooding on our farmland.

“There is no preparedness that is much more important than you knowing what to expect, which is what NIMET and the Ministry of Agriculture has done for us. Last year we didn’t know what to expect and we lost a lot of money. This year, I think it is December, that NIMET has been sending about the weather forecasts.”

Meanwhile, she said women and youth would enjoy inclusivity and not left behind, “My primary and major assignment is to make sure that the office of the Honorable Minister of State reaches out to the women and youth in agriculture, the real farmers.

“This does not mean that they’ve not been working with the real farmers, but to make sure that there is 100 per cent inclusiveness when it comes to women and youth in agriculture, and also to come up with ideas, innovative ideas that can bring about food security in line with the mandates of the current administration.

“So with his leadership and instruction, it will be easier for us to then implement all that we know that is going to help to bring women and youth to the right place where they’re supposed to be in the agricultural sector.

“So like I said, it is a round peg in a round hole. I am working for a boss who is not a novice in the agricultural sector, and I am a seasoned farmer who also knows what our women and youth need, so it is a beautiful day for the agricultural sector.”