By Joseph Agrace Wiyorbie, GNA
Suke, (UW/R), July 08, GNA – Some smallholder women farmers at Suke in the Lambussie District have appealed to the government and benevolent individuals and organisations for urgent support to help improve their farming activities.
They said accessing support services to improve their farming activities would help enhance their livelihoods and ensure food security.
Madam Abena Baagiro, a smallholder woman farmer, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview, at Suke, during a visit to the community to assess challenges facing women farmers in this year’s farming season.
She lamented that the high cost of farm inputs and tractor services this year is severely affecting their farming activities.
Madam Baagiro appealed to the government to subsidise farm inputs to enable smallholder women farmers to improve their production, as that was their major source of livelihood.
The women were into soybeans, groundnuts, maize and rice production, and cited difficulty in accessing fertilizer and tractor services due to the cost and lack of access to credit facilities and ready markets for their produce as major challenges to them.
Currently, the cost of ploughing an acre of land has increased from GH¢250.00 last year to GH¢300.00 this year.
Madam Baagiro described the situation as devastating and had affected many women from farming many acres this year.
She noted that access to affordable loans with low interest rates would enable women farmers to purchase quality inputs, farm equipment and hire labour, which would boost productivity and incomes.
She said access to finance would also help women to adopt technologies, including and efficient processing equipment, which would reduce post-harvest losses and improve their income fortune.
Mr Nathaniel Nambie Zim-weeweh, the Lambussie District Director of Agriculture, in an interview with the GNA, said smallholder women farmers plaid a significant role in the agriculture sector.
He noted that investing in them was critical to promote sustainable agriculture in the district and the country as a whole.
“Farming requires adequate funding to ensure that all the inputs, logistics and requirements needed for production are met for improved yield. This encourages farmers to stay in the business”, Mr Zim-weeweh said.
He added that women farmers in the area often faced challenges in purchasing farm inputs such as fertiliser and herbicides, and acquiring tractor services due to financial challenges, which affected their farming outcome.
He, therefore, called for targeted support for women farmers to transform the agricultural sector.
Mr. Zimi Kanintii Paul, Assemblyman for the Suke Electoral Area, said providing women with the same opportunities as men could improve agricultural production and reduce poverty, hunger and malnutrition in households.
“The cost of living is rising. Women must not be discriminated against in access to land, resources and credit to enable them to contribute meaningfully to improving living standards in the country”, he indicated.
GNA
Edited by Benjamin Mensah
Reporter: Joseph Agrace Wiyorbie, GNA