CSO calls for women inclusion in ownership of palm trees, farmlands

Solidaridad West Africa – Nigeria, a solution-oriented Civil Society organisation, has called for inclusion of women in the ownership of palm trees, farmlands and access to inputs and outputs that emanated from it.

Senior Climate Specialist, Africa and County Technical Lead, Nigeria, Dr Sam Ogallah made the call on Friday during the inauguration of Multi Stakeholders Platform (MSP) for sustainable Oil-palm production in Enugu.

Ogallah said the effort was part of the National Initiative to ensure that women were allowed to own land and benefit from palm tree farming.

According to him, organisation conducted analysis on Gender Inclusion and Gender Participation in the oil palm value chain and discovered a lot of biases against women and youths from the report.

“Most women only cook, extract the oil and take them to market whereas the ownership belong to men except few women who has money to buy the land and palm trees.

“Access to land for women and youths is also an issue. Favourable land tenure system is also an issue.

“Who has the right to land, who owns the land? We have seen this play out in various communities.

“So the essence of this Multi-Stakeholder Platform (MSP) is to be able to meet with the people who are the custodians of the land and see how they can help with reorienting and sensitising them.

“Build their capacities so that they can see and do things differently,’’ Ogallah added.

He noted that MSP committee inauguration was for Sustainable Climate Smart in Oil Palm production among communities in Enugu.

According to him, the committee will work out plans, available land and species of palm trees needed for its sustainability in the state.

Ogallah said that the setting up of the MSP was informed by the result of the studies the organisation conducted in 2019 in the oil-palm sector in Oil-palm Producing States of Nigeria.

The climate specialist said states where the studies were conducted include Kogi, Enugu, Akwa-ibom and Cross Rivers states.

He said that they would operate in four local government areas of the state which are Aninri, Isiuzo, Udenu and Nkanu West.

“We conducted climate vulnerability analysis studies that gave us a red alert on what we are likely to face between now and the next 30 years if things are not done differently.

“And the resources we have can only accommodate these four local governments.

“For their plan to be successful, it must jointly develop with the state government to their various ministries who will mainstream the plan into their budget and state plan.

“These ministries are Agric and Environment who will sustain the process and replicate it to the other local governments in the state,’’ he said.

A representative of the Enugu State Ministry of Agriculture, who pleaded anonymity, said they would look into the report of the committee at the end of the exercise and know the one the state would adopt.

“For now, we cannot do anything until the committee concludes their reports at grassroots level and we will know how to key in to ensure the sustainability of palm tree farming in the state,’’ she said.

A participant, Mr Emeka Nebeife said he found it hard to believe when he was told about the programme.

“I, therefore, urge members of the committee to start the plan from their individual and community lands.

Supreme reports that the stakeholders were drawn from Oil-palm farming communities, traditional rulers, Agriculture related Ministries, Departments and Agencies as well as the Media and Civil Society Organisations.