Lizzy Igbine is the National President, Nigerian women Agro-Allied Farmers’ Association (NIWAAFA) and the first National Vice President of Ecosystem- Based Adaptation for Food Security Assembly (EBAFOSA) Nigeria. She Recently revealed her interest towards agriculture, and how successful she has become in it.
Lizzy Igbine followed her passion and switched to Agriculture after spending decades in the banking sector.She was foresighted enough to see that food is a critical issue for every household and farming is not the reserve of men. A decision she said she has never regretted. “I saw the future, that food is a critical issue for the household. For a country to be truly independent, it must be able to produce enough food to feed its citizens. So I moved into food production and I have not regretted it one bit.”
Talking about the Lucrativeness of agriculture, the amiable lady said it is very lucrative, especially for the educated farmers.
“Nowadays, there is money in agriculture, especially for the educated ones. Many believe that agriculture is for the poor uneducated people in the village but no, educated people do farming better.
Mind you, coca cola is a produce of agriculture. In agriculture, even the chaff is business, the animal waste, like in poultry is manure, and so much more.
Production does not end in the farm, there is marketing and there is value addition through processing and exportation; as a matter of fact, those are where the money is.
However, because of the limitation of the rural farmers – their lack of education, they did not make profit from agriculture. But all that is changing now, the government, non-governmental organizations and even foreign organizations are earnestly building the capacity of rural farmers.” she explained.
She got fully involved in agriculture and with just seven women, she started the Nigerian Women Agro-Allied Farmers Association in 2006. A non-governmental organization comprising only women, it is has made giant strides across Nigeria with branches in most states.
“NIWAAFA is a non-governmental organization of practicing women farmers founded in June 2006 by a group of eight Nigerian women who are farmers in diverse crops, poultry, fisheries and other agricultural produce.
A graduate of Business Administration, Lizzy said that she has no regrets whatsoever venturing into agriculture, adding that in no distant time, NIWAAFA, which already has industries its operating, shall open even more, covering those areas that they see gaps, adding that “Those gaps are opportunities for money making.”
