By Abigail N. Sommutaar
Jirapa, (UW/R), Oct. 22, GNA – Some rural women farmers in the Jirapa Constituency have presented a six-point demand to the Parliamentary Candidates (PCs) in the constituency to consider should any of them represent them in Parliament in 2025.
The six-point demands were: dedicated improved mechanisation services such as rippers for women farmers, access to subsidised farm inputs such as organic fertilizer and access to low-interest credit facility by women to farm.
The rest included access to extension services at the right and critical times, access to a good market for their produce and provision of dams for dry season gardening as an alternative source of livelihood for women.
Ms Esther Zuri, the Secretary of the Women in Agriculture Platform (WAP) in the Jirapa Municipality, presented the demands during a forum with the PCs in Jirapa organised by ActionAid Ghana (AAG).
It was to mark the International Day of Rural Women on the theme: “Rural Women Cultivating Good Food for All: Leading to Climate-Resilient Agriculture and Food Sovereignty.”
The forum was in line with AAG’s focus area of promoting agroecology and food sovereignty under its Strategic Priority (SP) two of the Seventh Country Strategy Paper, to ensure a green economy and resilient livelihoods.
It was also in pursuit of the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Two, which sought to “End hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture”.
“If you meet these demands it will reduce our challenges in farming, which is our major source of livelihood.
We women find it difficult accessing loans from the bank and even when you get it the interest will be high and we cannot pay, so we want you to help with low-interest loans to farm,” Ms Zuri said.
She said some women also resort to charcoal burning in the dry season due to a lack of alternative livelihood for them.
Mr Justin Bayor, Head of Programmes, Campaigns, and Innovations at AAG, acknowledged rural women for engaging in climate-resilient and environmental-sensitive agricultural practices.
He suggested greater investment by the state and other key actors in agroecological farming methods such as dry season gardening and improved access to climate information by rural women.
Mr Bayor also suggested a review of the Planting for Food and Jobs phase II to prioritise rural women in decision-making related to the programme implementation.
He advocated indigenous seed development with support from research institutions in the country like the CSIR-SARI for farmers to have control over seeds that built their resilience and adaptability to climate change.
Madam Ayisha Salifu, the New Patriotic Party PC for the Jirapa constituency, said she initiated the “Women for Sustainable Development” intervention, which sought to address the concerns of women in the municipality including those raised by the women.
She said through the intervention they supported women from farming to marketing and harvesting and pledged to enhance those services and to meet the demands of rural women if elected the MP on December 7.
Mr Cletus Dapilah, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) PC, re-echoed the provisions of the NDC 2024 election manifesto including the women’s bank as interventions that will also benefit women if he and the NDC win the elections.
The two PCs expressed commitment to ensuring peace before, during and after the elections.
GNA