For many Nigerians, the climate crisis is a harsh reality. In 2024 alone, a scorching heat wave swept across the country and the North was hit particularly hard by severe flooding. In September 2024, a dam collapsed in Maiduguri and flooded half of Borno State’s capital city. Communities were devastated: lives were lost, thousands were displaced, and crucial farmland was submerged, worsening food insecurity and threatening livelihoods. While the consequences of climate change are felt across Nigeria, they are not evenly distributed. Rural women, who play crucial roles in farming, caring for others, and managing natural resources, are disproportionately affected.
This is why Propcom+, an eight-year climate-resilient and sustainable agriculture programme launched by the UK government in 2023, has committed to ensuring that 50% of people who benefit from the programme are women. The programme targets agricultural transformation through climate-smart practices, addressing challenges like food insecurity, climate change, and ecosystem degradation, focusing on northern Nigeria. This is what we have learnt about rural women, climate change and resilience so far.
Climate crisis exacerbates gender inequalities
The climate crisis is far from gender-neutral. Women are not inherently more vulnerable, but climate change amplifies existing inequalities, especially in rural sub-Saharan Africa. With water sources dwindling and forests retreating, women often walk farther to fetch water and firewood. During heat waves, women take on more caring responsibilities as their family members fall sick. Meanwhile, shrinking crop yields force them to work harder to meet their families' nutritional needs.
Propcom+’s Climate Vulnerability Assessment revealed that land allocation, often controlled by influential (and typically male) community members, grants women less productive land that is more susceptible to adverse climate events. Women and marginalised groups often own land far from reliable water sources, making them feel the effects of droughts earlier and more acutely. As a result, the agricultural gender gap—which is already at 30% in Nigeria—is likely to widen as adverse climate events occur, threatening livelihoods and undermining the country’s economic development.
Placing rural women at the heart of climate action
Targeted support for women farmers is crucial to building resilient communities in the face of climate change. Existing gender gaps in access to agricultural inputs, services and technology limit women’s ability to adopt innovations like climate-smart crops. In Nigeria, deep-rooted social norms dictate which crops women should grow, often trapping them in cultivating low-value crops and undermining climate adaptation.
However, Propcom+’s experience with piloting the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) in northern Nigeria offers hope. Known for its reduced demand on natural resources, higher yields, and lower methane emissions, SRI has allowed women to venture into growing crops traditionally considered "male." Several factors contributed to the inclusivity of the intervention: female farmers and cooperatives were deliberately chosen to form part of the pilot, solar irrigation technology was made accessible and affordable through group-based approaches and labour-saving tools were introduced to ease the time-consuming tasks of planting and weeding. Many women grew rice for the first time. In the words of one female farmer from Jigawa state: “Initially, women's participation in farming was limited, but now more women are eager to join us.”
Bridging the data gap on women and climate change
Despite the overwhelming evidence that women bear a disproportionate share of the climate crisis, data on its specific impact on women remains scarce. Propcom+’s Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Study undertook an extensive review of available data but was still only able to paint a partial picture of rural Nigerian women in the face of climate change. It is unclear how many women are displaced or lose their lives in climate-related disasters, how much the demands on unpaid care and domestic work increase or what interventions work best to support women’s adoption of climate-smart crops.
This lack of detailed information places a critical responsibility on programmes like Propcom+ to close the gender data gap. By thoroughly analysing existing information, identifying knowledge gaps, and undertaking targeted research, we can ensure that rural women's voices are heard and their needs are addressed. Understanding these challenges will help ensure that women are not just at the centre of climate vulnerability but at the heart of climate action and resilience.
This blog was originally published on the Propcom+ website here.