Women's Empowerment in Agriculture and Rural Development in Nigeria

Abstract

Women play a significant role in agriculture around the world, yet they often face unique challenges that limit their potential and impact. Globally, women make up almost half of the agricultural workforce, and their contributions are critical to food production and rural development. However, women have less access to resources and services than men, and their participation in the sector is often limited by cultural and social norms. These challenges not only affect individual women, but also have broader economic, social, and environmental consequences. Invariably, to assess the correlation between women empowerment in agriculture and rural development, the study, employed the library research method hence, it relied on books, journal articles, and blog posts for data. Central to the finding of the study is that there have been numerous Agricultural policies that are aimed at aiding rural development. Such as the Women in Agriculture Program (WAEP), the Women Agripreneurship Development Program (WADP), the Women's Rights to Property Initiative (WRPI), and the Agriculture and Gender Empowerment Strategy (AGES) inter alia. The study also identified lack of proper implementation, continuity, illiteracy, and corruption among other factors as the main challenges confronting women's agricultural policies in Nigeria. However, the study recommended the development of multi-sectoral approaches that bring together different government agencies and departments to work together on issues related to women's empowerment and agriculture.