URE itter, sweet side riven by women
also feed on the rice.
Women speak
Larai Kadiri admits “There are many women in Onyedega with various eye problems. Mine started one day when I went to beat the rice with sticks. Some rice flew into my right eye, and soon I wasn’t seeing well again. I cannot read any written document. In fact, today both eyes are affected.” Salamatu Tijani ,another rice farmer, speaks of “eyes that produce fluid every day. I was threshing rice when it happened. I went to the hospital where I was given medicines. When the drugs finished, the illness continued. I cannot see very well, and I particularly cannot see distant objects.” Fati Alewo is no longer an active participant in rice farming. Hear her “The problem began five years ago while I was threshing rice. Today, I cannot even see the ground, and I cannot farm rice again. People assist me with money and food since I can no longer farm.” Udalor Sunday is one of the two men present “In 2015 I went to beat the rice as we normally do. Rice entered my eyes and I went to the hospital. But I don’t think the drugs worked. I cannot see distant objects. I am still farming rice,but in quantity it’s not like before. My income has therefore dropped and my education has also stopped.”
‘5% have lost sight’
Boyi Benjamin, Secretary, Ibaji local government and Supervisory Councillor for Agriculture, tells Daily Trust “The need for a threshing machine is urgent. Sometimes,when they are threshing using sticks, the seedlings jump up and enter their eyes, and it has condemned many eyes in the local government. Some of the women have lost one of their eyes completely. About 5% of the women have lost their eyes as a result of threshing using manual methods.”
On women in rice farming, he emphasises “Women make up 70% of the local government. In a family you can have both mother and daughter involved in the rice business.” He also sheds light on some of the hurdles rice farmers face in the area “One of the challenges farmers go through here is the lack of modern working implements. Many women use hoes and cutlasses to clear their farms or to weed around the crop. The local government is trying to address these, and is seeking to collaborate with the federal government, in conjunction with the state government to introduce some of these modern working implements. The absence of a threshing machine is a big setback here. Many hours are lost as a result of this situation and many women are stressed and develop diseases like chest pain and general body pain. It is a thing of joy that the women are still able to achieve a lot in the rice trade despite their use of manual systems while farming.”
‘We need pumping machines’
Ajofe John Egwemi, Onu Ibaji speaks on rice farming within the local government “Ibaji is an agrarian area. Women here are very good in rice farming,and they do it more than the men,and as they do so it is not easy. You need machinery to do your land preparation. You need the best breed of rice to have an early harvest, and if it is so good it can be twice in a year. Our women are very involved. They are hardworking and resilient, but when they don’t have all they require, their labour and services are limited. But generally, they are very good, hardworking people and they augment the income from their husbands.
During a group interview with rice farmers at Onyedega, headquarters of Ibaji local government, Ruth Ogala refers to the problems faced by farmers “We don’t have farm implements. We need seeds, money, pumping engines,sprayers and pumping tanks.” She adds “We use our hands in doing all these things, and we spend up to six hours on the rice farms. I would spend only two and a half hours if I had the items I have just listed.” She affirms that the rice trade has helped many of the women in the community, and she points to the education of many of the children, saying money for the school fees essentially came from the rice trade. Okolo Joy, another rice farmer speaks in a similar vein “We need capital. We need chemicals, and we don’t have modern farming implements. We use hoes and cutlasses making us to spend up to six hours on the farm.”
Many challenges
“When the farming season approaches, we don’t have capital to start the work, and there are no chemicals and no fertilisers. We don’t have spraying machines. These are our problems,” says Agnes Ongbali. She adds that she uses her hands to clear the grass since there are no chemicals which could easily have done it. Her words “I want the federal government to give us money, and they should bring fertilizer and spraying machines as well ,both of which would make our work easier.” Asmau Abdulsalam declares “We do not have chemicals and there are no seedlings ,no sprayers. We need water pumpimg machines which we can use when there is no rain. During the harvest we need a threshing machine to filter the rice. We don’t have this, so we use sticks to beat the rice as a means of extracting the seed.” The women agree that once there is a delay in the rainy season, the rice is disturbed in its growth and this affects the harvest. They point out that birds also feed on the rice crop, which explains why there are countless scare crows on farms in the area. The women confess that there is no other industry in the area which shows why many women enter the rice trade, with its many challenges. Comfort Atule explains a few issues critical to the trade “If we have access to water sources,we can do both wet and dry season farming. Those without access to water, or without pumping machines will only do wet season farming.” According to another woman “Most of my rice dried because I don’t have pumping machines. If a place ordinarily produces twenty bags of rice, and I lose five, that means I will harvest only fifteen bags.” The women do not only develop problems with their vision while threshing rice, the entire process of cultivating the crop is laced with problems. But one moving picture remains from the three trips made to Ibaji and Idah by Daily Trust to investigate this story, and this is the image of rows of the women lovingly tending the many rice farms come sun shine or rain. There are others who boil the rice in huge drums shortly after the harvest. Later they will spread the rice under the sunshine to dry. Other women appear within the open back of vehicles seated high above the sacks of rice which they are conveying to Idah. It’s a miracle nobody falls down and it’s a miracle too that the vehicle does move. Women in these parts go through a lot to keep home and hearth alive.