4th March, 2017
The Zamfara State Ministry of Women and Children Affairs has said that it has come up with a new farming programme for women as part of government’s commitments to empower women in the state.
The Commissioner, Hajiya Balkisu Bungudu said this in Gusau on Saturday.
Bungudu said that the programme was introduced particularly for women who had an interest in farming, to empower them to participate in various farming activities.
“It is part of the state government policy to empower women in line with the Federal Government’s policy of reviving agriculture.
“We designed this programme as part of our various initiatives to empower our women.
“We want to empower them through agriculture because we learnt that we have many women who have interest in farming businesses but they lacked support.
“We have already started registering them through their associations. We have so far registered over 1,000 women for rice, maize farming and over 100 women for poultry farming,
“We planned to support them with agric inputs such as fertiliser and seeds, while those women for poultry farming would be supported with chickens and money,’’ she said.
Commenting on the recent one-day official visit of the Minister for Women and Social Development, Hajiya Aisha-Jummai Alhassan, to the state, the Commissioner described the visit as a welcome development and timely.
“We are happy with the visit of the minister because she had informed us about various Federal Government programmes that are under way to empower our women.
“We will give all required support for their successes in Zamfara.
“We will continue to sensitise our women, especially in the rural communities to participate in these programmes in order to gain the benefits,’’ she said.