[{"bbox": [72, 108, 301, 137], "category": "Section-header", "text": "2. RATIONALE"}, {"bbox": [109, 171, 249, 196], "category": "Section-header", "text": "2.1. Context"}, {"bbox": [83, 214, 1165, 399], "category": "Text", "text": "Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa: young people under 25 represent sixty percent of the Nigerian population. Nigeria has a leading economy with a wealth of natural resources, a thriving entrepreneurial culture, and creative industries. After a recession in 2016, the country returned to marginal growth in 2017, but the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with the collapse in oil prices in 2020, led the Nigerian economy into its second recession in five years. Following two decades of steady improvement, the human development indicators have slumped. The World Bank estimates that some 7 million more people have fallen into poverty as a result of the crisis. The unemployment is high, especially among the youth (at over 40 %), and 65 % of the economy is attributed to the informal sector."}, {"bbox": [83, 412, 1166, 624], "category": "Text", "text": "Poverty in Nigeria is gendered⁶. Some studies have noted that women in Nigeria were twice as likely as men to live below the poverty line⁷. A recent study also showed that 44% of Nigerian women are involved in buying and selling of goods, 39% work in agriculture while 6% of them work in the manufacturing sector⁸. Female domination in these areas which largely require semi-skilled labour often translates to low income. The gender gap in financial inclusion was 8.4%, with 67.3% for women who are unable to access banking and other financial services compared to 59.1% of men⁹. Employment of women in the formal sector is relatively low with only about 36% of Nigerian women in the workforce. Overall, the country ranks 123 out of 146 countries on the 2022 World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Index (GGGI) in 2022."}, {"bbox": [83, 637, 1166, 874], "category": "Text", "text": "The agricultural sector is the mainstay of the Nigerian economy. The sector contributes to 22% of nominal GDP and is the largest employer of labour accounting for 36% of the workforce, however over 80% of that workforce small holder farmers (SHF) are engaged in agricultural production at a subsistence level with very low yields. According to the General Household Survey conducted by the World Bank in collaboration with the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, across the nation, 57% of households are involved in agriculture. Nigerian women constitute an estimated 70 to 80% of the agricultural labour force, and play important roles in food production, processing and marketing. Despite their importance in increasing yields and value addition, they have limited access to financial services, credit facilities, technology and crop insurance. A study has also shown that men engaged in small-scale agricultural businesses in parts of Nigeria and access larger loan sizes than women¹⁰."}, {"bbox": [83, 887, 1166, 1100], "category": "Text", "text": "The crop production segment accounts for 87% followed by livestock at 8%. The livestock rearing is pastoral, relying on access to sources of water and pastures. Hence, herd movements are largely dictated by the weather and availability of these resources. Given the progressing desertification from the North, human-made deforestation, and climatic variability, herders have however started to compete increasingly with farmers for the same limited resources. Pressures are growing on communities with violent conflicts rising. The National Action Plan on Gender and Climate Change 2020 articulates Nigeria's commitment to ensuring that the ways in which climate change affects men and women in all their diversity are properly managed. This involves gender mainstreaming to allow for participation, contribution to decision-making and optimal access to climate change adaptation initiatives, programs, policies and funds."}, {"bbox": [83, 1112, 1166, 1218], "category": "Text", "text": "The crop production sector is very vulnerable to climate change, environmental and land degradation, especially in the drier northern states where projections mentioned in the updated NDCs 2021 indicate that rain-fed agriculture productivity could decline as much as 50%. This could result in the intensification of desertification, as well as the degradation of habitats and their biodiversity, exacerbated by climate change and the intensification of extreme events."}, {"bbox": [83, 1231, 1166, 1310], "category": "Text", "text": "These factors have drastically reduced opportunities for sustainable agriculture and are contributing to the current conflict and insecurity. They are also the cause of a significant outflow of young population from agriculture, given the resulting lack of perspectives and decent job opportunities in the sector. This population, largely not well educated or"}, {"bbox": [72, 1399, 820, 1446], "category": "Footnote", "text": "6 EU Gender country profile Nigeria available at GCP Nigeria | Capacity4dev (europa.eu)\nGlobal gender Gap Report. World economic Forum. July 2022. (weforum.org)"}, {"bbox": [72, 1448, 1158, 1492], "category": "Footnote", "text": "7 Sue Enfield, K4D: Gender Roles and Inequalities in the Nigerian Labour Market (2019) in Gender Country Profile Nigeria. Gender Action Plan III 2021-2025"}, {"bbox": [72, 1496, 1158, 1542], "category": "Footnote", "text": "8 Oluyemi Adeosun et al, Gender Inequality: Determinants and Outcomes in Nigeria, (2021) 1(1) Journal of Business and Socioeconomic Development, in Gender Country Profile Nigeria. Gender Action Plan III 2021-2025"}, {"bbox": [72, 1544, 576, 1567], "category": "Footnote", "text": "9 Global Gender Gap Report. World Economic Forum. 2021"}, {"bbox": [72, 1569, 1158, 1637], "category": "Footnote", "text": "10 Vivian Ugwuja et al, Gender Analysis of Micro-Loan Sizes Accessed by Small Scale Agro-Entrepreneurs in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria (2018) 10(1) Journal of Development and Agricultural Economics 20 in Gender Country Profile Nigeria. Gender Action Plan III 2021-2025"}, {"bbox": [1052, 1664, 1158, 1686], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 5 of 28"}]