WOMEN EMPOWERMENT AND FOOD SECURITY IN NIGERIA
Ojo Sunday Stephen and Yaro Obadiah Otso
1Department of Social Development
2Department of Pre-ND
Nasarawa State Polytechnic, Lafia, Nasarawa State
ABSTRACT
The hidden and obvious roles which women have been playing in the area of food production in the world have been highlighted in this paper. Statistics have shown that in many countries of the world, women provide 33% of the workforce, 70% of the agricultural labour. But very disturbing is the fact that, in doing this, women face a lot of constraint and as a result their potentials were fully tapped. Although there were conferences, workshops, seminars and publication with recommendations that have contributed to a greater recognition of women’s key participation in rural and other domains of development nationally and globally, this paper posits that much remains to be done. Thus, it is in the recommendation of this paper that if Nigeria really want to improve food production for the household and the economy as a whole, greater priority should be given to increasing women’s participation in market production and other income generating ventures.
Key words: food, security, women, empowerment.