By Anthony Adongo Apubeo
Tongo (U/E), June 6, GNA – Some rural women farmers in the agriculture value chain in the Upper East Region, have identified the lack of knowledge on policies and interventions rolled out by the Government as a major challenge to their productivity.
This came to light at separate engagement fora held at Yakort in the Nabdam District and, Yameriga and Tongo in the Talensi District of the Upper East Region.
The event, organised by the Maltaaba Peasant Women Framers Cooperative, was under the STAR-Ghana Action for Voice Inclusive Development (AVID) project with support from Williams and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
It brought together duty bearers from the Department of Food and Agriculture, Department of Social Welfare and Community Development and the Ghana Education Service to interact with rural peasant women farmers and persons with disability, among others.
The occasion provided the opportunity for Mr Sulemana Mahama, the District Director of Agriculture in charge of the Talensi District, to educate the rural peasant women farmers on some of the government Agricultural interventions including Planting for Food and Jobs, Rearing for Food and Jobs, among others.
He advised the women farmers not to rely on their husbands alone in accessing such services since that would not benefit them much but to form groups and to approach the Directorate for government interventions meant for smallholder farmers.
The District Director pledged to support the women farmer groups with tractor services after they had made the demand at the engagement forum and assured them of other services including the vaccination of their ruminants, free of charge.
He also pledged to support the farmers with energy cooking stoves to address climate change and educated them to avoid cutting down trees for charcoal burning and bush burning.
Ms Lydia Miyella, the Executive Director of Maltaaba Peasant Women Farmers’ Cooperative, explained that the objective of the project was to improve the incomes, households, food security and livelihoods of women and Persons with Disability through sustained agriculture in the Talensi and Nabdam Districts.
She stressed that there were huge policy gaps in accessing government’s agriculture interventions which affected agricultural productivity and livelihoods of the marginalized.
“We are highly optimistic that this project will help empower these vulnerable groups who are major contributors to the agriculture sector so as to help ensure food security and livelihoods in households of the rural folk”
The fora also afforded the opportunity for the Ghana Education Service and the Department of Community Development and Social Welfare who schooled the participants about other government policies they could access to improve upon their livelihoods.
GNA