The United Nations has called for urgent policy reforms and increased gender-responsive investments in Nigeria’s agricultural sector to remove structural barriers limiting women’s participation and enable them to play a greater role in agricultural value chains.
The UN said empowering women farmers was critical not only to advancing gender equality but also to strengthening food security, improving livelihoods, promoting economic growth and building resilience to climate change and other shocks.
Dede Ekoue, Country Director of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a UN agency, made the call on Monday in Abuja at a press conference to commemorate the 2026 International Year of the Woman Farmer (IYWF).
The IYWF was inaugurated by the United Nations in 2025 and is being led by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to recognise the contributions of women across agri-food systems and promote reforms aimed at addressing persistent gender inequalities in agriculture.
Ekoue said women farmers across Nigeria continued to face structural constraints that limited their access to productive resources, finance, technology, markets and leadership opportunities, despite their significant contribution to the agricultural sector.
She said the UN was working with federal and state governments, women farmers, communities, the private sector and development partners to address the challenges and strengthen women’s economic empowerment across the agri-food system.
“Across Nigeria, the UN is working with governments, women farmers, communities, the private sector and development partners to tackle the structural barriers that limit women’s full participation and economic empowerment in the agri-food system,” she said.
According to her, UN-supported programmes have reached more than 104,000 women, with investments targeted at improving their access to productive assets, finance, technology, markets, climate-resilient solutions and leadership opportunities.
Ekoue disclosed that about $47 million had been allocated under an investment programme in Nigeria, with a deliberate inclusion threshold designed to ensure that women constitute between 48 and 50 per cent of beneficiaries.
She added that the programme also targets a minimum of 30 per cent youth participation and five per cent inclusion of persons with disabilities across its investments.
The IFAD country director explained that investments in productive infrastructure, mechanisation and processing equipment were helping women move away from labour-intensive production methods and manual processing towards more efficient and commercially viable agricultural enterprises.
She noted that improved access to modern equipment and infrastructure was particularly important in reducing the physical burden associated with agricultural production and processing while increasing productivity and the commercial value of women-led businesses.
Ekoue also highlighted the award of African Organisation for Standardisation dual-quality market certification to five women’s cooperatives in 2026 as one of the notable achievements recorded under efforts to strengthen women’s participation in agricultural value chains.
She said the certification had helped strengthen consumer confidence in the products of the cooperatives while improving their competitiveness in both domestic and regional markets.
Also speaking, Hussein Gadain, FAO Representative in Nigeria and to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), said the commemoration provided an opportunity to recognise the contributions of women farmers, assess the barriers limiting their potential and mobilise the policies, investments and partnerships required to empower them.
Gadain, who was represented by Jimmy Owani, Senior Programme Officer, Office of Emergency and Resilience (OER), FAO, said women remained central to agri-food systems across the world.
“Women farmers are indispensable to agri-food systems. Their labour, knowledge, entrepreneurship and leadership help feed the population, support livelihoods, protect natural resources and build resilience to climate and other shocks,” he said.
He stressed that investing in women farmers should be viewed beyond the question of gender equity, describing it as a strategic investment in food security, economic growth and sustainable development.
“Investing in women farmers is, therefore, not only a matter of equity, but also a strategic investment in food security, economic growth and sustainable development,” Gadain said.
Meanwhile, Beatrice Eyong, UN Women Country Representative to Nigeria and ECOWAS, said UN Women had worked with women farmers globally for many years and had developed programmes in collaboration with IFAD, FAO and the World Food Programme (WFP).
Eyong said the programmes were designed around the recognition that women constituted a significant proportion of agricultural labour but continued to face structural barriers that prevented them from reaching their full potential.
“The basis of that programme was on the issues that though women form 70 per cent of those who provide labour, they have structural constraints, obstacles that make them not to perform the way they should have performed,” she said.
She warned that the challenges facing women farmers also had wider implications for the performance of the agricultural sector, particularly in areas relating to access to productive resources and ownership rights.
According to her, women may have access to land for farming without having effective control or ownership over such land, a situation that limits their ability to make long-term decisions and investments.
“We have access to land but not control, which is a problem,” Eyong said.
She further raised concerns about the disproportionate impact of climate change on women farmers, noting that worsening climate conditions could deepen existing inequalities and increase the vulnerability of women whose livelihoods depend heavily on agriculture.
“When there is climate change, you see that it is the women who are going to suffer more,” she added.
The UN officials stressed that addressing such challenges would require coordinated action by governments, development agencies, financial institutions, the private sector and farming communities.
They called for policies that would improve women’s access to land and productive assets, expand affordable agricultural finance, increase access to technology and mechanisation, strengthen market linkages and provide greater opportunities for women to participate in decision-making and leadership across the agricultural value chain.
They also emphasised the need for climate-resilient agricultural investments that would enable women farmers to withstand the growing effects of climate change while improving productivity, incomes and household livelihoods.
The officials said closing the gender gap in agriculture would ultimately strengthen Nigeria’s efforts to achieve food security and develop a more productive, inclusive and resilient agricultural economy.
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