MPWFC holds International Women Day in Upper East

The Executive Director of Maaltaba Peasant Women Farmers’ Cooperative ( MPWFC ), Ms Lydia Miyella, has observed that it would be difficult to make a meaningful impact in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) when women are discriminated and stereotyped.

The Executive Director made the observation at this year’s International Women's Day, organized by the NGO, in the Yameriga community in the Talensi District of the Upper East Region on Friday.

The event which attracted Peasant Women Farmers, Traditional rulers, and duty bearers was on the theme "Investing in Women: Accelerate Progress" was also used to symbolically launch a mini plantation project with a mechanized water system. The group also embarks upon route match with placards demanding gender parity.

The Executive Director appealed to the government to come out with agriculture policies and interventions that would give equal opportunities to smallholder rural women farmers just like their male counterparts.

According to her, majority of peasant women farmers are often discriminated and denied credit facilities from financial institutions to help them expand their farms and businesses and help improve their economic status.

“I will also appeal to government to create the necessary environment for the growth of Green marketing to help empower our women who venture into Forest Farm Production as well as provide solar irrigation for our peasant rural women farmers to go into farming especially,” she stressed.

Ms Miyella underscored the need for government to also ensure that women just like men are given the opportunity to serve in leadership positions, stressing “majority of the population of Ghana are women yet leadership positions are dominated by men. There are certain decisions men cannot take for women.”

She indicated that the campaign for this year’s theme, ‘" Investing in Women: Accelerate Progress” fits into many of the interventions of MPWFC and explained that over the years, MPWFC , with funding support from its development partners has implemented some major interventions, aimed at empowering women economically and socially.

She stated for instance, MAPEWFAC, under the STAR-Ghana Action for Voice Inclusive Development (AVID) project, with funding support from Williams and Flora Hewlett Foundation, empowered smallholder rural women to access government’s agricultural intervention packages dubbed "Planting for Food and Jobs and Rearing for Food and Jobs."

She explained that notwithstanding this impact, rural women especially widows and Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) which MAPEWFAC is working with are the most vulnerable and affected when it comes to issues with climate change.

She indicated that it was against this backdrop that MAPEWFAC under “ the Forest and Farmer Facility Phase II Climate Resilience Landscapes and Improved Livelihoods’’ with grant support from the Forest and Farm Facility (FFF), organized the smallholder rural women in the Nabdam and Talensi District and built their capacity to establish mini tree plantations in the two Districts in the Upper East Region and to go into vegetable farming in the dry season to help improve upon their economic livelihoods.

She stressed that there are still numerous challenges drawing women’s empowerment backwards in these areas and mentioned them as a lack of access to productive farmlands, and farm inputs under the PFJs and RFJs.

While commanding the Chief of Yameriga, Nab Nyaaba Maantilhiyik, for releasing productive land to our women smallholder farmers belonging to MAPEWFAC to go into vegetable farming and to also initiate climate change interventions such as mini plantations, she appealed to other chiefs to emulate the example of the Yameriga chief by also given out productive farmlands to more women smallholder farmers.

“I am happy to announce that the sensitization programme organized by the outfit under the Forest and Farmer Facility Phase II Climate Resilience Landscapes and Improved Livelihoods with grant support from the Forest and Farm Facility (FFF), aimed at sensitizing chiefs, to release productive farmlands to women smallholder farmers is beginning to yield positive result as the Chief of Yameriga provided productive farmlands to our women smallholder farmers,” he stated.