The Cost Of Farming: How Women Farmers Survive Climate Change and Credit Crunch

This project will follow the peasant women farmers in Iseyin, Oyo state, Nigeria, who were excluded from the 6,000 beneficiaries of the Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (N-CARES), which was launched in 2021 to alleviate the impact of COVID-19 on agricultural activity.

Iseyin women farmers face the challenges of access to funds for crop inputs and inadequate rainfall. They have not benefited from the lending program, even though the 2021 agriculture allocation represents 4.43% of the total state budget. Loans have been granted to non-farmers. The women farmers take out loans from commercial banks, but they find it difficult to repay them.

The farmers are complaining about inadequate rainfall, which they believe is caused by climate change, that devastated their crops during the 2020 planting season. A preliminary survey revealed that one of the farmers had suffered losses in the past few years due to poor yields. She failed to realize up to 50% of the cost of production.

This project will collect testimonials from the women farmers and examine how they are trying to adapt to this situation. The report will also look at the manipulation of N-CARES against the peasant farmers of Iseyin.