Gender Dimension in Agricultural Food Value Chain Development in Nigeria: The Women Perspective

Gender issues have taken a global dimension in the recent times especially in Nigeria. Women are increasingly being involved in agricultural food value chain which contributes to economic development. Policy agenda has for decades given priority to the production sphere, where men generally predominate, and has largely neglected processing and marketing activities, where women often play a key role. The paper draws on available empirical literature evidence for the study. Aggregate data shows that women comprise about 43 percent of the agricultural labour force globally and in developing countries contributing 60 to 80 percent of total farm and non-farm task.Their access to resources and opportunities to enable them move from subsistence agriculture to higher value chains is much lower than men’s. Women farmers and entrepreneurs face a number of disadvantages, including lower mobility, less access to training, less access to market and information, and less access to productive resources such as credit, land and labour saving processing technologies. Evidence suggests that women tend to lose income and control as a product moves from the farm to the market. Despite their significant presence in the sector, most agricultural data collection systems fail to capture the actual contributions of women to value chain development and as such generally remain disadvantaged throughout the value chain, with their productive potential unrealized. There is much diversity in women’s roles and over-generalization undermines policy relevance and planning. Government and policy makers should put in place policies and interventions that can improve women potentials through providing access and control to key productive assets required for value chain development and create linkages among food value chain players in order to capitalize on new market opportunities along emerging food value chains that will have further implications on food and nutrition security and household welfare in Nigeria.