Accra, June 1, GNA- The Ministry of Agriculture and CAMFED Ghana, a nongovernmental organisation, have partnered to support young women with budding enterprises in the agriculture value chain to grow their businesses and enhance their earnings.
In furtherance of this, a five-day workshop has been held for some young women across all the 12 CAMFED operational regions from Monday, May 23.
The workshop was facilitated by staff of MoFA under the theme: “Opportunities in the agricultural sector for Ghanaian youth”, an official statement shared with the Ghana News Agency said in Accra, on Wednesday.
Some gender advocates have expressed concern that although women play important roles at different nodes of both agricultural and off-farm value chains, they are often cut off from the agricultural economy due to prevailing societal norms or gender-specific barriers.
As part of efforts to remedy the situation, CAMFED and MoFA signed a partnership Memorandum of Understanding in November 2021 to train young women for careers in the agricultural value chains.
The Women in Agricultural Development Directorate of MoFA, is thus providing technical support for CAMFED to train young women who want to venture into agriculture as a business.
The collaboration is within the framework of the Young Africa Works programme that CAMFED is implementing in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation.
The two organisations would also collaborate to embed environmentally-friendly and climate-smart agricultural practices in the agricultural and agribusiness enterprises of CAMFED clients.
“The expectation is that the collaboration between the two organisations would unlock the full potential of the agricultural sector to create work and entrepreneurship opportunities for young Ghanaian women and men, and fulfil national and international development goals,” the statement said.
The Campaign for female education, CAMFED, is a pan-African, grassroots-led movement tackling poverty, inequality and injustice through girls’ education and women’s leadership.
The average share of the agriculture sector to Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased from 19.1 per cent in the first half of 2020 to 21.3 per cent for the same period in 2021.
The sector employs about 60 per cent of the population and accounts for 65 per cent of the country’s land area.
GNA