The training has empowered us - WAP members

Wa, May 22, GNA - Some members of the Upper West Regional Women in Agriculture Platform (WAP) say they have been empowered to better engage stakeholders in the agriculture sector on their needs as women farmers.

They said through a series of trainings offered them by the Platform, they now feel very confident and appreciate the critical role of women in agriculture in the country and the need to advocate for their needs.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency on the sidelines of a workshop for women on the Gender and Agricultural Development Strategy (GADS II), Pognaa Rose Babai, Regional WAP Chairperson described the series of trainings as an eye opener to her and her colleagues.

'Through the capacity building trainings, we have come to realize that many of the challenges confronting women farmers can be addressed through effective advocacy and engagement of stakeholders in the sector', she said.

Pognaa Babai said they are now going to engage traditional authorities in their activities for them to understand and help break the barriers hindering women from accessing land for farming.

Madam Mary Lily Bachewie, Jirapa District WAP Chairperson, said they could now confidently engage stakeholders of the sector at any level to advocate for their needs.

Mrs Maria Saeed, Sissala West District Secretary, said the platform has also brought them closer to the District Agriculture Officers and Agriculture Extension Agents (AEAs).

Speaking to the GNA on the objective of the training for women on GADS II, Madam Victoria Aniaku, Deputy Director at the Women in Agriculture Development (WIAD) Directorate of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), said the training was to help improve women access to agriculture information.

She said it would also help increase women knowledge on the GADS II document so that they could take advantage of the opportunities in the document.

Madam Aniaku said they wanted to create awareness so that the women could take the initiative to approach WIAD in relation to their needs.

In relation to the low female AEAs, she urged the women to take the initiative to contact WIAD for technical support.

She urged that they include men on their platform meetings so that they would get to understand their plans and support them to promote those plans.

Madam Aniaku thanked the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for the financial support through its Feed the Future Northern Ghana Governance Activity (NGGA) project.

She said the support made it possible for the dissemination of information on the GADS II document and hope for future support on the implementation of the strategic objectives contained in the document.

GNA

By Prosper K. Kuorsoh, GNA