*Women In Agriculture*
It was a memorable, incredibly proud afternoon. Due to the
weather, the day was unusually raw and cold. But before me were these awesome
people giving applause over and over again for the brilliant presentation just
concluded. The presentation wasn’t a big-deal to me, so I was quite shocked by
that level of response from this set of friends. Even though the truth is the
research for me was a serious work. And virtually everyone gained from the
presentation.
But then as I reconsidered, I thought, these are just a set
of future leaders just like I am. “What if we can get this to the set of
current leaders?” Not as though they aren’t aware of it, but just to provide
for them a system of remembrance. “This should get out of the four walls of a
classroom, it should go global”, I thought. So I’ll appreciate readers also
from America, Australia, Africa, Europe, Asia, and even the Antarctic
population to pay cognizance of the content of this online article.
And what was it that defined that day?
It was the topic of discussion ‘Women in Agriculture’.
Firstly, I will like to appreciate the team I worked with
going through the research and all, the likes of Oyelade Oluwadamilola, Folami
Mercy and others. They really are a set of brilliant minds with a heart willing
to work, cooperative and fantastic.
And now I want to pick it up from the question, ‘What is
Agriculture?’ … Smiles
Well the definition of that is something we’ve been made
familiar with, right from Elementary school through the upper basic to the
senior secondary school. Agriculture has been simplified for our understanding as
the cultivation of crops and rearing of animals for human consumption, domestic
purposes and/or economic advantages.
But before I will be speaking about Women in Agriculture, I’ll
like to mention some women, Nigerians and even Africans at large should be able
to relate much better with their personalities. I was having private discussion
with a female friend, after a conference last weekend in Ibadan, Nigeria. And a
talk led to another, I remember myself mentioning these three names to her.
Ibukun Awosika, Folorunsho Alakija, and Linda Ikeji.
These are women of reference in African society and they are
all doing well in their fields. Their fields are those which are dominated
mostly by men, yet they are doing very fine in those fields.
Ibukun Awosika is chairman
of First bank plc, that economics and commerce. Folorunsho Alakija is into
petroleum, while Linda Ikeji is a blogger. They all are doing excellently in
their fields, despite being women. This proves that women are by no means
lesser than men in career and intellectual performance.
The challenges women face in Agriculture is quite a number
and no matter how much we try to ignore them, the truth is those challenges will
keep hunting us as limitations to a reasonable level of progress in the global
Agricultural field. Let it cut across Africa especially, then to Asia, even to
the European countries, and then the world at large. Why should we still have
gender restricted policies in Agriculture? No other people restrict themselves
like those who are biased in decision and policy making. Certain research
reports that women are responsible for half of the world’s agricultural
produce. Well, to such claims there are quite a number of criticisms; however
the truth is, women will do well in this field just as men if they are given
equal access to resources and opportunities.
The idea of Women in Agriculture we have in this part of the
world especially, for majority is the picture of a man who carries cutlass in
the morning as the ‘god of the jungle’, and then before him are his wife or
wives and children carrying loads of basket or some other farming equipment.
Women are often seen as those who do the menial jobs on farms, while men alone
can handle managerial positions. The truth is that this kind of view is a
distorted one, and it will only keep us limited as a continent. There are
potentials men can unleash, likewise there are potentials only women can
unleash.
I’ll like to pause here today…. Thanks so much for reading!
Join me same time next week, as I pick the discussion from
here.
Article By:
Okediji Oluwadurotimi
Food, Nutrients & Health.
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