149 women farmers from six communities in the Wa East district have been supported with inputs to improve their productivity.
The support was extended to the women by Sungbo Women Empowerment Organization, SWEO.
They received bicycles and farm inputs such as fertilizer, sprayers, cutlasses among others.
The women were selected based on their adaptability of Sustainable farming practices in the past 3 to 4 years.
Speaking at the ceremony at Dupare in the Wa East district to hand over the inputs to the women, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of SWEO, Portia Gban Yahaya Mahama said women continue to be the economic backbones of most households in the north of Ghana.
She said, though women play major roles in the agricultural value chain, they don’t get their due.
According to her, women have challenges in accessing fertile lands, farm inputs, markets and many more.
“We are here to support these women who are doing a lot in the agric sector but are facing some challenges. They don’t get the best lands to farm, they have to wait till the men plough before they get tractors, they have to work in the farms of their husbands, yet it is their produce that their households largely depends on for survival.”
“So we at SWEO will continue to work with women farmers and assist them to overcome some of these challenges and encourage them to produce more.”
Miss Gban while encouraging the women to adopt sustainable farming practices called on chiefs and community leaders to address challenges women face in the acquisition of lands for farming.
“I want to call on our chiefs and community leaders to address challenges we the women face in getting lands to farm. The produce of women do not go anywhere, their produce is for their families, so we need to help ease the burden they go through.”
Started in 2018 in the Upper West Region, SWEO has been supporting women in the region in the processing of shea and butter as well as farming.
The organisation has established two shea butter processing centres in the region that processes butter for the local and international markets and provides mechanisation services to women farmers.
They also assist their beneficiaries in accessing markets for their products.
