The Small-Scale Women Farmers Organisation in Nigeria (SWOFON), Jigawa State Chapter, has called on the state government to increase agricultural funding from the current average of 6.58 per cent of the state budget to the 10 per cent benchmark under the African Union’s Malabo Declaration.
SWOFON made the demand during a press briefing in Jigawa State on the findings of its budget accountability assessment conducted in partnership with the International Budget Partnership (IBP).
The assessment, covering 2021 to 2025, found that agriculture accounted for an average of 6.58 per cent of Jigawa State’s approved budgets during the period, while agricultural capital expenditure recorded an average execution rate of 65.9 per cent.
The report said, “The 6.58 percent average agricultural budget share recorded by the assessment remains below the 10 percent agricultural investment benchmark set out in the African Union’s Malabo Declaration.”
It added that the state’s 65.9 per cent agricultural capital execution rate demonstrated comparatively strong implementation performance among the five states assessed.
“Jigawa has made the most significant progress of the five states assessed,” the report stated.
The assessment compared Jigawa with Nasarawa, Niger, Anambra and Oyo states, noting that Nasarawa recorded a 72.6 per cent agricultural capital execution rate, followed by Jigawa at 65.9 per cent.
Niger recorded 44.4 per cent, while Anambra and Oyo recorded 29.3 per cent and 17.5 per cent respectively.
SWOFON said Jigawa had also institutionalised the participation of women farmers in the state’s budget process.
According to the report, “Jigawa is the only state where citizen input into the budget process is treated as standing practice rather than an annual negotiation.”
It further stated that Jigawa was the only state among the five assessed where women farmers’ priorities could be traced to specific budget lines.
“A central finding from the Jigawa assessment is that the SWOFON Charter of Demands is traceable to specific budget lines, backed by a dedicated gender budget segment spanning health, education and agriculture,” the report said.
The organisation said the development followed sustained advocacy by women farmers and had created an opportunity for deeper participation in public budgeting.
On agricultural support, the assessment found that Jigawa had the most systematically documented delivery of agricultural interventions to women farmers among the five states.
“Documented interventions included pumps, processing kilns and N50,000 grants distributed to members,” the report stated.
The interventions reached a reported 13,680 SWOFON members in Jigawa, described in the assessment as the largest membership base among the five states.
However, SWOFON said the state needed to improve its measurement of the actual reach of such interventions.
“Despite recording the strongest documentation of delivery among the five states, Jigawa has not yet calculated how far its distributed pumps, kilns and grants stretch across its 13,680-member base,” the report said.
The organisation also identified land access as a major constraint affecting women farmers in the state.
“The assessment identifies customary land tenure norms as Jigawa’s binding constraint,” the report stated.
It said improved access to land did not necessarily translate into secure ownership or long-term control.
Across the five states, 84.9 per cent of surveyed SWOFON members reported some improvement in access to land, while 24.5 per cent reported that they did not own land.
SWOFON recommended that future land-based agricultural interventions should provide transparent documentation of beneficiary plots, tenure arrangements and grievance mechanisms.
The organisation also called for stronger links between women farmers and farm settlements, irrigation schemes, NALDA programmes and state land-allocation schemes.
On agricultural income, the report said support to farmers should extend beyond production.
“A farmer who receives inputs, equipment or grants but cannot access storage, processing, transportation or a profitable market may still struggle to improve her income,” it stated.
The assessment identified weak storage, processing, transportation, market information and bargaining power as factors limiting the economic returns from agricultural production.
SWOFON therefore urged the government to connect smallholder women farmers to aggregation centres, processing facilities, storage infrastructure, market information, affordable transportation, financial services, institutional buyers and agricultural value chains.
The organisation also called for the extension of institutionalised citizen participation to the local government level.
Among its recommendations, SWOFON urged the state to “close the remaining allocation gap” by building on the existing dedicated gender budget segment and moving agricultural allocation towards the 10 per cent Malabo Declaration benchmark.
The report also called for regular government-women farmers’ accountability engagements and public reporting of allocations, releases, expenditure, procurement status, physical delivery and beneficiary numbers.
Concluding the assessment, SWOFON said Jigawa had established a foundation for stronger participation by women farmers but needed to consolidate the gains.
“Jigawa does not need to begin from zero,” the report stated.
“The State already has a foundation of institutionalised participation, a dedicated gender budget segment, and the group’s strongest documented delivery record.”
SWOFON called on the Jigawa State Government to continue expanding the dedicated gender budget segment and move agricultural funding towards the 10 per cent Malabo Declaration benchmark
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