Organises 2-day workshop on climate change mitigation in North Central

By Gabriel Ewepu, Precious John, Bernard Ozuana – Abuja

The Federal Government, Thursday, empowered women farmers in the North Central geopolitical Zone with distribution of cooking gas cylinders to tackle deforestation as one of the major causes of climate change.

Speaking during the opening ceremony of the 6th Edition of Workshop on Gender Mainstreaming, with theme, ‘Climate Change Mitigation and Adaption Strategies for Smallholder Women Farmers’ in North Central Zone, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Ernest Umakhihe, who was represented by Director, Reform Coordination Department, Gertrude Orji, in the Ministry, said the theme of the workshop is on the heels of the outcome of the recent 2021 COP26 Climate Change Conference held in Glasgow, United Kingdom.

Umakhihe said: “As you are aware the National Gender Policy was approved in 2019 with the thrust hinged on gender equity and equality for optimum productivity in the agricultural sector.

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“This ultimately, could ensure commitment to gender mainstreaming at all levels of the agricultural process which is seen as a tool for achieving gender-based reforms and increasing productivity by men and women along all the value chains in the sector.

“Nigeria’s agricultural sector is most vulnerable and susceptible to the impact of climate change.

The reason is not far-fetched. This is because it is rain-fed, dependent: any change in the weather pattern, in terms of the amount, intensity, duration, and the onset affect the farmer’s decisions on when, what and which of the crops to cultivate.

“Women who use firewood have health hazards but with the cooking gas cylinders it will help to improve their health and as well as that of the family.

“We are using this to empower them and not just these cooking gas cylinders alone, but with tokens so that they can go into production as they increase on it to improve their livelihood as time goes on.”

Meanwhile, the Minister of Women Affairs, Dame Pauline Tallen, who was represented by Director, Economic Affairs Services, in the Ministry, Idris Mohammed, said, “With climate change, empowerment of women is key and it is actually a line with the theme of this year’s Celebration of women.

“At this point, I want to recognize the contributions of women and girls around the world who have given climate change, adaption, mitigation and response to build a more sustainable future.

“Farmers are to align themselves with current trend on farming activities and understand the dynamism of climate change.

“The clean cooking gas given to women is to help mitigate climate change instead of using firewood.”

Also the Head, Gender, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ifeoma Anyanwu, “This workshop is being organised by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on the heels of changes of weather patterns, and the thrust of this workshop is to build the skills and competences of women farmers on mitigation and adaption strategies against climate change.

Climate change has differential impacts on men and women with women being the most vulnerable, and that is hwy the Honourable Minister has directed that women across the six geopolitical zones being trained on how to mitigate the impact of climate change in line with the Sustainable Development Goal number 13 that predicated on addressing climate change and its impact.”

She added that the training is part of the gender policy on tackling climate change and promised to sustain the tempo in terms of capacity building of women on climate change and across value chains in agriculture.

According to her, in each geopolitical zones of the country 250 women were trained and the one for North Central geopolitical zone including FCT is the grand finale.

A professor in Criminology and Gender Studies, Prof Hauwa Evelyn Yusuf, expressed hope that the workshop will change the narrative among women farmers in mitigating climate change, and it would also increase their agricultural productivity.

However, she said “We have other challenges as women farmers in terms of investment, environment, land, and so, there is the need to create an enabling environment for them so that they can harness their resources to be able to progress in farming.”

One of the beneficiaries, Comfort Sunday from the FCT, commended the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for the empowerment saying the cooking gas would cushion the effect of stress of using firewood and charcoal for cooking.

Vanguard News Nigeria