The President of Women Farmers Advancement Network (WOFAN) has vowed to promote food security in Nigeria through its recently launched ICON programme, which is an initiative in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation.
The President of WOFAN said that program, which has provided farm implements, had contributed immensely to addressing the challenges associated with the poor yield the farmers have experienced.
As a result of these forward-thinking strategies, the farmers under the leadership of their traditional leader Sarki Ibrahim were able to fully recover from their economic challenges and expand their yield from growing only rice and groundnuts to including a variety of vegetables.
The farmers also became savvier in using technology and have replicated this in their farming practice. As a result, farmers have increased their profits from N40,000 to N120,000.
“We are extremely grateful to Mastercard Foundation and WOFAN for the inputs and technical support. This has improved our market access, and we can sell our produce at premium prices,” says Sarki Ibrahim.
As a means to boost food security a makeshift centre will be created for smallholder women farmers in Tofa community of Tofa LGA, Kano state.
The women will be able to gather resources to make groundnut oil for sale and parboil rice, all of which they accomplish using firewood.
WOFAN, in partnership with Sonvisage Innovation Team, developed a solar-powered briquette stove for domestic cooking and parboiling business.
It is also used to generate electricity as the sockets provided on the stove can charge phones while cooking; also, the stove is constructed with a cabinet where cooking utensils are kept.
BizWatch Nigeria reports that the agricultural system in Nigeria needs an active boost to meet the demand and in turn soften the economy.
