By D.I. Laary
Asuboi (E/R), Oct. 17, GNA – Hundreds of farmers in Asuboi, Ayensuano District, have benefited from the installation of a new cassava processing pavilion, housing three locally produced cassava processors, a pressing machine, a roasting area, and a storeroom.
The multi-purpose pavilion is intended to boost daily cassava processing productivity and improve working conditions for female cassava farmers in Asuboi and surrounding areas.
Ms Shlomit Sufa, the Israeli Ambassador to Ghana, commissioned the pavilion during the international World Rural Women’s Day celebration, which was themed “Rural Women Using Technology to Improve Food for All.”
She said the cassava processor technology had the potential to improve the work of women cassava farmers while adding value to cassava products.
Small-scale farmers in Ghana contribute significantly to the country’s overall agricultural output, with most of the small-scale farmers and fishers being women who grow vegetables, cereals, and other food crops.
In cash crop production like cocoa, which is owned by men, women contribute significantly by using their labour to support weeding, harvesting, and transporting the final product to marketing centres.
Also, in manufacturing and agro processing, women in rural communities contribute to fish processing and cassava processing into gari, (agblima) cassava dough and starch.
Thus, Ms. Sufa commended Ghanaian women for their role in enhancing agricultural and rural development and improving food security and eradicating rural poverty.
“It is therefore important to celebrate as well as acknowledge the innovation and technologies that these women deploy in their daily work, especially in the agricultural sector,” she added.
The Asuboi Chief, Nana Ahyia Boateng, praised Israel for assisting women farmers in the community with the gari processing pavilion and machines, but implored for a mechanised borehole and a senior high school.
While acknowledging the contribution of Israel, Ms. Emelia Larbi and Grace Armah, both farmers, outlined many emerging crop and fish production problems that are impeding women’s ability to ensure sustainable farming.
Both expressed concern about how women farmers, particularly those growing plantain and cassava, were suffering because of rising farm input prices and the scarcity of weedicides and fertilisers.
“The fertilizer is too expensive and scarce; we can’t find any, and when we do, it’s too expensive; we can’t afford it.” Ms Larbi said. “Weedicides have also become prohibitively expensive, and we want something done about it.”
Besides that, she noted that sand winning and lack of ready markets for farm produce were de-motivating many rural women farmers, forcing many young people to migrate to urban areas to look for work.
“Due to these challenges, our children do not want to stay with us in rural areas, but rather leave for urban centres because they do not want to go through these challenges,” Ms. Armah explained.
“The fear is that if nothing is done, it will lead to food shortages in the near future.”
The women also expressed concern about the exorbitant cost of premix fuel, which had become prohibitively expensive for women farmers and inaccessible to farmers.
The idea of designating a special day to honour rural women was first proposed in 1995 at the fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China.
In this regard, October 15 was designated as “World Rural Women’s Day,” coinciding with World Food Day, to highlight rural women’s role in food production and security.
In a speech read on his behalf, Mr. Seth Acheampong, Eastern Regional Minister, acknowledged challenges such as access to farmlands and financing rural women farmers, but encouraged them to continue working toward food security.
He also urged farmers to resist the temptation to sell their land for gold mining, stating that “agricultural farming is the real gold, and thus our lands should be protected.”
The Development Action Association, a network of farmer-based organisations, celebrated the 2022 World Rural Women’s Day in collaboration with the Israeli embassy, GIZ Agribiz, and Yara fertiliser.
GNA