By Julian Osamoto
Women farmers in Kilankwa II community, Kwali Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory, are hoping that a ₦5.823 million milling centre will help them increase their incomes and move more households out of poverty.
These and other questions were raised at the commissioning of a grinding and milling facility in Abuja on Friday, provided by ActionAid Nigeria in partnership with the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) under the Local Rights Programme.
For women in the community, the facility is expected to address a major gap in the local agricultural value chain and processing farm produce.
According to CITAD, women in Kilankwa II had expanded their farming activities, particularly cassava production, after receiving training in agro-ecological farming and financial support through Village Savings and Loan Associations. “But the women later identified processing as a major challenge, prompting the development of the milling centre”.
Addressing Journalists after the event, CITAD programme officer Yesmin Salako said the project was based on a need identified by the community rather than an intervention imposed from outside.
Salako expressed optimism that the facility would allow women to process their produce more efficiently and potentially increase the value of what they sell. “The expectation is that processing locally will reduce some of the costs and difficulties associated with taking farm produce elsewhere for processing, while creating an additional source of income for women”.
For ActionAid Nigeria’s Local Rights Programme Advisor, Hajara Opaluwa-Adamu, the organisation would monitor the impact of the intervention as part of its broader effort to reduce poverty. “ActionAid Nigeria aims to help lift at least 1,000 people out of poverty in the community by 2030″.
Earlier, the Country Director of ActionAid Nigeria, Andrew Mamedu, represented by the organisation’s Local Rights Programme Specialist, Kehinde Arowosegbe, said the intervention was designed to remove barriers limiting the economic potential of rural women.
He described the investment as more than the provision of equipment, saying it was intended to support women’s economic independence and strengthen household livelihoods.
Mr Arowosegbe urged the women to treat the facility as a community-owned asset and manage it transparently.
Earlier, the Executive Director of CITAD, Yunusa Zakari, represented by Johnson Musa, said the facility should serve the entire community without discrimination and urged the management committee established by the community to ensure transparency, accountability and fairness in running the centre.
The traditional leader of Kilankwa, Madaki Yahya Alhassan, commended ActionAid Nigeria and CITAD for the intervention and assured that the income generated from the centre would be used responsibly to maintain the machine as well as sustain the project.
Alhassan however, appealed for additional support for women, including more equipment, as well as improvements in electricity, roads and other basic infrastructure. “The intervention had already encouraged more women to participate in economic activities”.
