An NGO, Catalysing Strengthened Policy Action for Healthy Diets and Resilience (CASCADE) has empowered 1,482 women smallholder farmers with orange-flesh potato vines and 613 others with assorted vegetable seeds to encourage backyard farming to improve the nutrition status of women and children under five years of age in Bauchi State.

CASCADE said the aim was to increase access to and consumption of healthy diets, resilience to prices and climate change-related shocks.

Speaking during the flag off of the 2024 Rain-Fed Season Agricultural Inputs Fair and Voucher Redemption in Miri community in Bauchi, the Programme Manager of CASCADE, Bauchi office, Isaac Ishaya, explained that the idea was to provide the needed support at household level to women smallholder farmers to be able to leverage their backyard gardens to cultivate vegetables and orange-flesh potato.

Ishaya said, "Looking at the nutritional value of this potato in addressing hidden hunger, as well as the importance vegetables have to the nutrition of households, this drove our commitment to strengthen women participation in agriculture through accessing agricultural inputs."

Ishaya added that to re-enforce confidence among women smallholder farmers, CASCADE Nigeria had engaged private sector actors intending to strengthen agricultural linkages between the farmers and lead agricultural firms.

He further said, "We want to boost confidence among smallholder farmers' participation around their sources of inputs, as well as bridge the gap between farmers and sources of inputs.

"In Bauchi State, we are working in Bauchi, Dass, Jama'are, Ningi and Toro LGAs."

Also speaking, the Head of Women in Agriculture, Bauchi State Agricultural Supply Company, Helen Ciroma, said the support to the women farmers would improve their livelihood and nutritional status.

She said, "The orange-flesh potato has nutritional value; it's rich in Vitamin A, helps in reducing inflammation, boosts immune system and is good for diabetics."

She explained that the women could use sacks to plant the potato at home because: "The leaves can be used as vegetable while the tuber is good for fufu.

A beneficiary, Maryam Sani, thanked CASCADE for the intervention and assured that they would make judicious use of the potato and vegetable seeds to boost their farming and income.