GOMBE: Mrs Okla Joab, a teacher in Gombe State, struggled to make ends meet with her meager salary, barely sustaining herself and her two children each month. However, her life took a dramatic turn when she embraced the agribusiness initiative introduced by the Japanese Nigerian-based Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA), a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), paving way to her financial independence.
According to News Agency of Nigeria, in Gombe State, many women, especially widows, are traditionally confined to being full-time housewives, relying heavily on their spouses for financial support. This dependence often renders them helpless, living from hand to mouth, exacerbated by cultural norms discouraging women from engaging in meaningful economic activities. Disturbingly, statistics reveal that approximately 59.3 per cent of women in these communities have experienced physical violence since the age of 15, largely due to their economic dependence on their spouses.
For widows, the situation is even more dir
e. Widowhood in these communities often comes with maltreatment, discrimination, stigma, and economic hardship, leading to emotional and socio-economic instability, and psychological trauma. However, SAA has been working to empower women in these communities, training them on new farming techniques, post-harvest preservation, and marketing strategies.
This initiative has enabled women like Joab to break free from their financial dependence and achieve economic liberation through their ability to effectively cultivate their farms, manage and market their farm produce, termed agribusiness. Mrs Okla Joab has broken free from poverty to financial independence.
The Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA) has made significant strides in enhancing farmers’ access to essential inputs and enterprise skills, thereby improving livelihoods and contributing to food security in the region. By empowering women in agribusiness, SAA is dismantling the cultural and economic barriers that have long hindered their progress.
In a te
lephone interview with NAN, SAA’s Communication officer, Mr Moses Nongoatse, stated that the major objectives of the organization are to raise the crop management skills of front-line extension staff and smallholder farmers, including women farmers, to increase their proficiency in crop production and productivity. Nigeria is among the four focal countries, which include Ethiopia, Mali, and Uganda, where SAA is implementing field-based programs encompassing the food system from production, post-harvest handling, and agro-processing to marketing and consumption.
Thousands of demonstration plots, also called Management Training Plots, were established with participating farmers in the diffusion of improved wheat, maize, rice, cowpea, soybean, groundnut, millet, sorghum, and sesame cassava technologies. In Gombe, many beneficiaries are widows who have formed smallholder groups for cultivation, processing, preservation, and marketing strategies to become financially independent. SAA assists them in procuring imp
roved seedlings and farm inputs and helps with post-harvest produce to avoid waste.
For women like Joab, SAA’s intervention has been a game-changer. A mother of two, Joab lost her husband 12 years ago and struggled to make ends meet on her teacher’s salary. However, with SAA’s support, she has built a more secure future for herself and her children. Joab’s life took a dramatic turn when she embraced agribusiness, introduced to her community by SAA.
Living in the Daban Fulani community, Kwami Local Government Area (LGA) of Gombe State, Joab recounts how SAA’s intervention brought a fresh breath of life to her and her household. In an interview with NAN, Joab shared her inspiring story, detailing how many women, including herself, showed interest and underwent training in various aspects of farming.
Joab’s decision to embark on agribusiness marked a turning point in her life. She encouraged other women in her community and neighboring villages to seize this opportunity and embrace agribusiness, noting that a
gribusiness has helped her achieve financial independence and food sufficiency for her community.
Joab had been struggling to make ends meet since her husband’s passing 12 years ago. In 2023, the Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA) arrived in her community, offering support and agricultural extension services. Joab seized this opportunity and has seen a significant improvement in her life, now being able to process agricultural produce, sell it, and earn a good income.
The SAA initiative also enabled Joab and other women in her community to form a Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society, which has accumulated over N200,000 in less than a year, providing loans to empower other women to start their own agribusinesses. Joab noted that many women in her community were now supporting their households and earning respect from their families.
Mrs. Marline Molta, Coordinator of the Kauna Women Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society in Gombe State, corroborated Joab’s testimony, explaining the cooperative’s work and challenges
faced, including inadequate funding and limited access to improved seedlings and inputs.
Mrs. Altine Kiliyobas, another beneficiary, praised SAA’s intervention for exposing them to best agronomic practices, significantly improving their yields. SAA trained and distributed improved seeds to women farmers in the Yateren community, Shongom LGA, teaching preservation techniques to minimize post-harvest losses.
Farmers in Billiri and Shongom LGAs expressed gratitude for SAA’s intervention. Mr. Yila Sukar, District Head of Popandi Tal in Billiri LGA, described the initiative as a game-changer in agriculture. Ignatius Alhaji, a farmer, reported a 200 per cent increase in his maize and soybean harvest after adopting the new farming methods.
Barnabas Malle, Commissioner for Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Cooperatives, Gombe, acknowledged the significant impact of the NGO’s intervention on women’s involvement and improvement in farming activities, noting the boost in crop yields and farmer income.
Professor Dani
el Osasogie, an agronomy expert at Ambrose Ali University in Ekpoma, Edo, commended the NGO’s impactful work in transforming the lives of women and widows in the agriculture sector. In a telephone interview, Osasogie urged the government to support farmers, particularly vulnerable women and widows, in overcoming their challenges to ensure sustainability.