N/R: Empower rural women with information on modern agriculture - NGO

GNA-Savannah Women Integrated Development Agency (SWIDA-GH), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), has called on stakeholders in the agricultural sector to empower rural women farmers with adequate information on modern agricultural practices for increased productivity.

Ms Khadijah Abdul-Samed, Communication and Gender Officer at SWIDA-GH, who made the call, said the move would equip rural women with skills and knowledge to boost their productions to improve on their livelihoods.

She was speaking at 2021 International Day of Rural Women celebration, organised by SWIDA-GH in collaboration with World Food Programme at Zogu, a farming community in the Nanton District of the Northern Region.

The celebration was on the theme: “Rural women rise and claim your basic rights to Sustainable Development-SDG Agenda 2030”.

It was part of planned activities towards the launch of 'Sustainable Livelihoods for Improved Food Security and Nutrition' project that would be implemented by the NGO in partnership with the WFP.

Ms Abdul-Samed said majority of rural women were engaged in agriculture, but were confronted with challenges, including; access to information on modern ways of practicing agriculture.

“Our rural women are mostly disadvantaged when it comes to information on issues like climate change and its related matters, and these are issues that are critical to the development and sustainability of agriculture, which the women need to have access to”, she indicated.

She said the provision of adequate and timely information on modern agricultural practices to rural women farmers would guarantee food security and alleviate poverty in rural areas.

Ms Abdul-Samed added that “women in the agricultural sector contribute to the development of the country, and so government and other stakeholders need to implement interventions that would cater for their plights to ensure their well-being”.

Madam Fauzia Sadiac, Head of Women in Agriculture Development (WIAD), who spoke at the event, emphasized on the need for stakeholders to build the competencies of rural women farmers on innovative ways to produce quality products that would meet world market standards.

She said “we cannot leave women out in the agricultural value chain, so it is important that we build their capacities to take advantage of emerging opportunities in the agricultural sector to help improve on their livelihoods”.

Mr Mumin Issah, Head of ‘Sustainable Livelihoods for Improved Food Security and Nutrition’ Project at SWIDA-GH, highlighting the project, said it would empower women farmers to be economically resilient to withstand food and nutrition security shocks through value chain activities in crops, shea plantation and agro-forestry as complementary income generating ventures.

“It will also improve on equitable access to social services for women and girls to contribute to their enhanced wellbeing, and be implemented in the Northern and Savannah Regions”, he added.

The International Day of Rural Women is celebrated annually, to recognise the roles and contributions of rural women in enhancing agricultural and rural development, improving food security and eradicating rural poverty.