Savannah Women Integrated Development Agency (SWIDA-GH), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), has called on stakeholders in the agricultural sector to empower rural women farmers with adequate information on modern agricultural practices for increased productivity.
Ms Khadijah Abdul-Samed, Communication and Gender Officer at SWIDA-GH, who made the call, said the move would equip rural women with skills and knowledge needed to boost their productions to help improve on their livelihoods.
She was speaking at the 2021 International Day of Rural Women celebration, organised by SWIDA-GH in collaboration with the World Food Programme, at Zogu, a farming community in the Savelugu Municipality of the Northern Region.
The celebration was on the theme: “Rural women rise and claim your basic right to Sustainable Development – SDG Agenda 2030”. Ms Abdul-Samed noted that majority of rural women were engaged in agriculture, however, they were confronted with some challenges, including access to information on modern ways of practicing agriculture.
“Our rural women are mostly disadvantaged when it comes to information on issues like climate change and its related matters, and these are issues that are critical to the development and sustainability of agriculture, which these women need to have access to”, she indicated.
She said the provision of adequate and timely information on modern agricultural practices to rural women farmers would guarantee food security and alleviate poverty in rural areas.
Ms Abdul-Samed added that, “women in the agricultural sector contribute to the development of the country, and so government and other stakeholders need to implement interventions that would cater for their plights to ensure their well-being”.
Madam Fauzia Sadiac, Head of Women in Agriculture Development (WIAD), who spoke at the event, emphasized on the need for stakeholders to build the competencies of rural women, farmers, on innovative ways to produce quality products that would meet world market standards.
She said, “we cannot leave women out in the agricultural value chain, so it is important that we build their capacities to take advantage of emerging opportunities in the agricultural sector to help improve on their livelihoods”.
The International Day of Rural Women is celebrated annually, to recognise the roles and contributions of rural women in enhancing agricultural and rural development, improving food security, and eradicating rural poverty.
Source: GNA
