By Solomon Gumah
Tamale, Aug 31, GNA – Hajia Alima Sagito-Saeed, Executive Director of Savannah Women Integrated Development Agency (SWIDA-GH), an NGO, has called on government to support women in agriculture to reduce Sexual and Gender-based Violence (SGBV) in the country.
She said most of the SGBV cases resulted from women’s over-reliance on their male counterparts for their needs.
She said, “If women are properly supported to take up agriculture as a viable business opportunity, they will be economically secured to help minimise cases of SGBV in our communities.”
Hajia Sagito-Saeed made the call when she addressed stakeholders and young women entrepreneurs at a forum in Tamale on how to access information and opportunities from government agencies to sustain their businesses.
The forum brought together government institutions such as the Ghana Enterprises Agency, Tamale Metropolitan Assembly, Northern Regional office of Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC) and the Women in Agriculture Development Directorate of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA).
It formed part of the collaboration between SWIDA-GH and the African Woman Development Fund project dubbed: “Advocacy Action for Women Economic Security and Justice in Northern Region”.
Hajia Sagito-Saeed said the project was intended to ensure that women in the region were economically strong, secure and to be able to overcome any incidence of violence against them.
Madam Salatu Abubakar, Northern Regional Officer in-charge of Women in Agriculture Development, told participants to take advantage of available opportunities in the agricultural sector to advance their aspirations of becoming agents of transformation in their communities.
She said food processing, nutrition, livestock production, food security and post-harvest losses management as well as marketing of agricultural produce were viable areas that could guarantee women economic empowerment.
Mr Sayibu Mohammed Mutawakil, Northern Regional Credit Manager of MASLOC said there were flexible credit facilities for women in agriculture at MASLOC, adding that it was important for them to put themselves into groups to enable them have access to the facilities to expand and augment their businesses.
Miss Suhad Chalpang Osman, a student of University for Development Studies commended partners for the initiative and said it had exposed participants to diverse opportunities in the agricultural sector.
GNA