Women Earn Only 30% of Agricultural Output Despite Contributing 80%, Says Minister

The Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, has decried the marginalisation of women in Nigeria’s agricultural sector, revealing that women earn only 30 percent of total agricultural output despite producing about 80 percent of it.

Speaking on Wednesday in Abuja at the National Workshop on Agro-Value Chain Capacity Building, organised by the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs in collaboration with the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the minister described the situation as both unfair and unsustainable.

According to her, about 70 percent of Nigeria’s agricultural workforce is made up of women, yet their immense contributions to food production and the economy are not adequately rewarded due to entrenched gender imbalances in financing, policy design, and investment opportunities.

“Seventy percent of our agricultural workforce are female. Eighty percent of our total agro-output is produced by women. And yet, this immense contribution has not been fully rewarded.

Women earn only 30 percent of agricultural output, which clearly points to inequality that must be urgently addressed,” she said.

Sulaiman-Ibrahim stressed that women farmers remain largely excluded from agricultural financing and critical value chain opportunities, limiting their ability to scale up production and benefit equitably from their labour.

She called for urgent reforms in agricultural policies, improved access to credit, and gender-inclusive investment strategies to bridge the gap and empower women as key drivers of Nigeria’s food security and rural development.

The workshop brought together stakeholders across the agro-value chain, including policymakers, financial institutions, and development partners, with discussions centred on addressing barriers faced by women and creating sustainable pathways for their economic empowerment in the agricultural sector.