The gender gap in agricultural productivity is costing Nigeria an estimated $2.3 billion annually, equivalent to about two per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) has said.
The FAO said the loss underscored the urgent need for increased investment in women farmers and the removal of barriers limiting their access to land, finance, technology, agricultural services, markets and leadership opportunities.
Representing the FAO Representative in Nigeria and ECOWAS, Jimmy Owani, disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja at a high-level meeting and panel discussion commemorating the 2026 International Year of the Woman Farmer.
The event, held at the United Nations House, Abuja, had the theme, “Advancing Women’s Leadership and Economic Power in Nigeria’s Agrifood System.”
Owani said closing the gender gap in agriculture would not only improve the livelihoods of women but also accelerate Nigeria’s agricultural transformation, strengthen food security and promote inclusive economic growth.
He said women played vital roles across Nigeria’s agrifood systems, including crop production, livestock, fisheries, food processing, trading, entrepreneurship and agricultural innovation.
“Women contribute an estimated 37 per cent of labour in crop production alone. Yet many continue to face barriers in accessing land, finance, agricultural services, improved technologies and leadership opportunities,” he said.
According to him, female-managed farms often record lower productivity, not because women lack the capacity to farm, but because of unequal access to resources and opportunities.
Owani said agriculture contributes between 22 and 25 per cent of Nigeria’s GDP and supports the livelihoods and food security of millions of Nigerians, making women’s participation and empowerment critical to the sector’s transformation.
He said the challenge was not peculiar to Nigeria, noting that women constituted approximately 41 per cent of the global agrifood workforce but continued to experience inequalities in access to productive resources, finance, technology, markets and decision-making opportunities.
He added that FAO estimates that closing gender gaps in agricultural productivity and wages globally could add nearly $1 trillion to the world economy and reduce food insecurity for millions of people.
Owani stressed that the discussion should move beyond recognising women as contributors to agriculture to ensuring that they become decision-makers, innovators, investors and leaders.
He called for stronger representation of women in farmers’ organisations, cooperatives, agribusinesses, financial institutions and policy platforms shaping Nigeria’s agricultural development.
Also speaking, the World Food Programme (WFP) representative, Edouard Thiam, said the organisation had supported farming communities in northern Nigeria over the past five years to increase production, improve incomes and strengthen local economies.
He said 128,000 women had been a major part of WFP’s interventions, which included the provision of seeds, fertiliser and other agricultural inputs, access to equipment and storage, irrigation, market linkages and resilience hubs.
Thiam said the interventions were particularly important as farming households faced the combined pressures of conflict, insecurity, climate shocks and rising costs.
He said more than 70 per cent of jobs created through WFP activities had gone to young women.
Thiam also said WFP’s local procurement strategy was helping to retain agricultural investment within Nigeria by purchasing food from Nigerian farmers and businesses.
According to him, such purchases keep markets active, expand rural employment and reduce dependence on food sourced from outside the country.
The IFAD Country Director, Dede Ekoue, represented by the Country Programme Coordinator, Chioma Adiele-Okpara, said IFAD had reached at least 96,827 women through its Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP), Livelihood Improvement Family Enterprises for Niger Delta (LIFE-ND) and Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ).
She said the programmes were helping women move beyond subsistence farming into organised production, processing and market engagement, while expanding their access to finance, productive assets, knowledge and technology.
Adiele-Okpara said 87,888 women under VCDP were members of supported rural producer organisations, while 36,572 had been trained in crop production technologies and 50,613 had accessed advisory services.
She said LIFE-ND had trained 17,201 women, while SAPZ had trained 5,815 women in improved crop production practices.
She added that LIFE-ND had enabled 11,003 women to access savings, 9,568 access credit, 11,382 access insurance and 14,654 receive financial literacy training.
The IFAD representative urged stakeholders to invest in women’s productive capacity, enterprises, organisations, innovations and leadership, stressing that women must be treated as equal partners and decision-makers in transforming Nigeria’s agrifood system.
She said the International Year of the Woman Farmer should result in concrete actions that would create lasting economic opportunities for women farmers across the country.