The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Ghana Feed the Future Agricultural Value Chain Programme (ADVANCE) have organised a series of activities to mark the International Women’s Day at Janga in the West Mamprusi District.
The activities included a drama depicting a successful woman farmer with support from her spouse, female and male out-grower business owners sharing experience and an award ceremony for outstanding female farmers.
Mrs Adwoa Mensima Sey, Public Relations and Communications Specialist at USAID/ADVANCE, said the event recognised and appreciated achievements made by women (smallholder) farmers working with out-grower businesses on the USAID/ADVANCE project in the maize, rice and soya value chains.
She said the event, in line with the theme: “Stand for Gender Parity in Agriculture,” also emphasised the need to increase participation of female smallholder farmers and female nucleus farmers in the Northern Region.
Mrs Sey said as part of its gender strategy, USAID/ADVANCE was mainstreaming gender equity at all levels of the project adding “it continues to sensitise and pursue equitable access to resources by all genders especially women smallholder farmers to increase productivity, income and wellbeing of their families as a whole”.
She quoted Mr Rashid Abdul Alhassan, Gender Specialist at USAID/ADVANCE, as saying “As a value chain enhancement programme, we have the strongest conviction that if equitable and sustainable opportunities are created for women along the value chain, they can fully participate and benefit from their contribution.
“With women’s involvement, we would be able to achieve food security among rural populations in the north while increasing the competitiveness of rice, maize and soya in the domestic market”.
Source: GNA
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