WOFAN identifies ways to improve on food security in Nigeria

By Muhammed Yakubu On Feb 18, 2025

WOFAN-ICON2 Project, food security, Nigeria, Salamatu Garba — WOFAN-ICON2 Project, Country Director, Dr. Salamatu Garba

A not-for-profit organisation, Women Farmers Advancement Network (WOFAN) has identified peaceful coexistence and respect for one another among crop and animal farmers as a measure to enhance food security in Nigeria,

WOFAN-ICON2 Project Country Director, Dr. Salamatu Garba stated this in an exclusive interview with SolaceBase on a sideline of a 5-day international training on Enterprise Development: Effective Communication, Value Addition and Innovative Initiatives in Doha, Qatar.

At the training organised by Prospect Development Services and WOFAN-ICON2 supported by Mastercard Foundation, Garba said that constant clashes among farmers which mostly lead to loss of lives and property can be addressed by effective communication on the choice of appropriate words such as a stop in describing animal rearing farmers as herders any more as many attributing herders to negativity, whereby their partners are referred to as crop farmers, rice farmers and Maize farmers etc.

‘’When I was decorated as a United Nations Ambassador of Peace two years ago, I made a commitment to contribute my quota to peacebuilding through people development, looking at these problems as most of these challenges start from rural communities due to lack of effective communication and snowballs into national crisis at times, ‘’Salamatu Garba said.

‘’Therefore the constant clashes among farmers and partners, my easy example I give to people is that if anybody gives you a plate of rice the next thing you are looking for is the protein to go along with-

‘’One of the take-home of our training in Doha is that even the name given to animal farmers called herders is not helping the situation.’’

‘’ In as much as we call crop farmers such as groundnut or soya bean farmers, rice farmers, why not address the others as animal rearing farmers, instead of headers.’’

‘’When they are already branded with herders that is termed to be negative or profiled as Fulani herdsmen, What about Yoruba, Hausa or Igbo rearing animals also?

Salamatu Garba noted, ’’Let us start from there, crop farmers and animal rearing farmers must work together as partners.’’

‘’ So going back home, our campaign is going to be related to such adjustment and the media needed to be carried along in this drive as a very important partner.’’

‘’By the time we begin to see each other with respect and dignity, half of the problem is already addressed. Because it all starts with body language, speeches, behaviour and what we say to one other.

Also speaking during the discuss, Dr Nahemiah Danbaba of National Cereal Research Institute, Badegi, said going by the definition and concept of agriculture, it is an art and science of rearing animals and cultivating crops for sustainable food security or for human and animal nutrition,

According to him, looking at this definition, it means agriculture has two components principally, people involved in crop cultivation and animal rearing.

Dr Nahemiah Danbaba of National Cereal Research Institute, Badegi.

‘’So if we are determined to develop the agriculture sector, there is the need to look at agriculture from two critical perspectives, there are people involved in animal rearing, a major source of our protein, and also people involved in crop production, where we get carbon hydrate and other balance diet.’’

He said that animal farmers for long have not been receiving the necessary attention compared to crop farmers over the years.

‘’Then it is to look at who needs what, annually there is a budget for supporting rice farmers, and maize farmers, but you hardly hear of support for animal farmers, except maybe poultry farmers who are not the only ones in the animal value chain.’’

‘’Thank God to the present government that created the ministry of livestock specifically for livestock which is going to give an opportunity to animal farmers so they can receive government support and contribute to national food security, national self-sufficiency in food and sustainable development as well.’’

‘’If we look at this with what our institute is doing as part of our mandate, we look at how best can these two groups coexist and productively give their contribution to national development.

‘’Also we look at how they can contribute to environmental sustainability, youth and women development and to impact on nutrition all these are issues we are doing as an organisation to critically support most of our activities around.

So working with WOFAN has expertise in working with smallholder farmers, most especially the vulnerable ones, the institute is collaborating with this group to give farmers the needed support to coexist together and support one another, to better their own livelihoods,

Dr. Danbaba noted that the partnership can achieve all these by critically knowing basic innovation communication skills, there is the need to have an innovative way to deliver this message to the expected end users in a term that is more appropriate, within the required time with the body language that actually gives everybody assurance that promises would be fulfilling to all. These are key things that effective communication does.

Secondly, is to train vulnerable groups, women and youth, to be able to have entrepreneurial skill-especially around value addition, not just to cultivate the crops and have high yield, but to process these crops into value-added products that give them an opportunity to earn more money and improve their livelihood.

‘’Similarly to build a culture of self-determination among the youth to address youth restiveness and make them understand that it cannot earn them any good.

The training sessions was attended by the WOFAN team from Bauchi, Kaduna, Kano, FCT, and Benue, agriculture experts from the National Cereal Research Institute, Badegi, National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services, (NAERLS) Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and media executives of SolaceBase and Express Radio with nationals from 6 other countries that include Tunisia, Lebanon and Ghana among others