Women work in food production should be appreciated-Nagu

Dodoma. The chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Dr Mary Nagu, has underscored the need for the government to recognise contributions by local women small–scale food producers.

She challenged the government to develop and implement gender focused policies and introduce plan which support women transformative agenda in Tanzania.

“Most of local regulations are comprises of elements of masculinity… they deprive women of their many statutory rights, especially ownership of land,” she said.

She made the remarks on Monday in her speech when opening a three-day conference organized by Oxfam to cerebrate women food producers. The event, to climax Tuesday, targets to contribute to, among other things, recognise small-scale women food producers through awarding, acknowledging and cerebrating their efforts in agriculture.

Under the theme of ‘Bridging the Gender Gap in Agriculture’ the event has attracted at least 100 small–scale food producers who are also female food hero finalists of all years (2011-2016).

In her opening remarks, Dr Nagu spoke also over the need for the State to empower small scale food producers in terms of decision making, allocation of resources and availability of information on the agricultural sector.

“In rural areas women are playing key role in food production but they are facing many challenges due to masculinity nature, especially in ownership of land,” she said.

For his part, Oxfam country director, Mr Francis Odokorach, said Oxfam believes that interaction between citizens, especially small-scale food producers and an accountable government is a powerful way of addressing exclusion, inequality and injustice towards achieving wellbeing.

“The overall analysis reveals that extremely small amounts are allocated specifically for addressing related constraints within the government budget, he expressed.