The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA-Ghana) has trained a total of 4,562 women from 10 districts in the Northern Region on best agronomic practices as part of efforts to reduce unemployment and poverty among women.
The women have also been trained in soil fertility management, such as planting techniques and the use of inorganic manure (compost), as part of measures to increase yield and improve the livelihood of the beneficiary women.
The support which forms part of a three-year Agricultural Productivity Improvement and Marketing Project (INTAPIMP) is being funded by the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), Ghana and the Rockefeller Foundation through the Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) at a cost of $1,096 million.
Speaking at Nayoku, one of the beneficiary communities in the West Mamprusi District, the Project Manager of ADRA, Mr Isaac Kamkam-Boadu, said the project was aimed at providing a source of livelihood for the women and reducing poverty and hunger in the beneficiary communities through farming.
Mr Kamkam-Boadu cited poverty as the main reason why most women in the north travelled to the south to work as female porters (kayayei).
He said the beneficiaries would provide the women with seedlings of groundnut, soya bean and other crops so that they could also start their own farming activities to enable them to earn income from the sale of their produce to cater for themselves and their children.
He stated further that the women were also trained in how to use inorganic manure such as cow and poultry dung to fertilise the land, adding that they selected that method because it was inexpensive and also helped the farmer cultivate more, which will go a long way to reduce hunger and malnutrition.
“We have also linked these women with financial institutions such as Sinapi Aba and UT Bank so that they can get loans that will help them to buy the necessary equipment needed for their farming activities,” he said.
The Project Coordinator at AGRA, Mr William Doku, said farming was not a male-dominated business as many people in the country perceived it to be, adding that it was time women ventured more into it.
He indicated that about 6,000 male small-holder farmers were also being trained under the project and that the initiative would go a long way to make the region a food hub in the country.
In an interview, one of the beneficiaries, Madam Rafia Abdulai, who had been involved in the ‘kayayo’ business in Accra but had returned home to engage in farming, said the support had helped her enrol her two children in school, and indicated that she would not return to the kayayo business again.
Source: Graphic.com.gh
