Household food security could improve if women are given productive land to farm-Chief

Household food security and improved nutritional status of women and children in Northern Ghana could receive major boost if smallholder women farmers are given fertile lands to farm, the Traditional Ruler of Arigu in the West Mamprusi District of the Northern region, Naa Mbah Jacob Kanoni 1V, has observed.

The Traditional ruler made the observation during a stakeholder engagement forum on Women Access to Productive Land within the White Volta Basin held on Saturday at the Arigu Community.

The stakeholder engagement forum came about as result of a research conducted by the Tikarinongo Cooperative Farming and Marketing Union (TICOFAMU) at the Tikarinongu community, one of the communities in the District West Mamprusi District of the Northern Region

The findings showed that by gender, most of the fertile farmlands are owned and controlled by the male family heads of the various communities thereby forcing many of the women to resort to farming activities at the buffer zones of the White Volta Basin causing siltation to the White Volta Basin.

Funded by the Business Sector Advocacy Challenge (BUSAC) Fund and its development partners DANIDA, USAID and the European Union, the research also attributed the low household food security and the poor nutritional status of most women and children in Northern Ghana to the smallholder women farmers’ inability to gain access to productive land.

The Chief who stressed the need for a paradigm shift for husbands to release fertile lands for the smallholder women farmers’ to farm, said women are the best managers when it comes to farming and could help contribute significantly to food security when given the chance.

“I want to cite myself as example. My wife is my farm manager and she is able to manage the farm very well which always lead to bumper harvest of crops such as millet, maize , sorghum, groundnuts. I will therefore advice you all to give it a trial and you will see the good results”, the chief of Arigu stressed.

The Chief who commended the BUSAC Fund and its development partners DANIDA, USAID and the European Union for the project and noted that farming was the major stay of occupation for the community, pledged the traditional council’s support to facilitate to ensure that more smallholder women farmers’ in the area gain access to productive land.

Mr Sebil Debey Allan Burns, one of team members of the research team, who facilitate the stakeholders engagement forum, admonished the smallholder women farmers’ to be humble and to show respect towards their husbands and community members so as to win their confidence to enable them gain access to productive lands.

The Secretary of the TICOFAMU, Mr. James Adocta Agandaa, who mentioned advocacy training, research, sensitization, through the media and the stakeholder engagement forum as part of the implementation stages of the project, told the stakeholders that a dialogue forum would be held as a climax of the project to ensure that all the stakeholders are committed to ensuring that smallholder women farmers’ gain access to productive lands.

The Monitor of the BUSAC Fund, Mr. Vincent Subbey, said he was very happy about the high turnout of people including the traditional ruler and his elders, the Assemblyman, the smallholder women farmers’, the youth among others and their level of participation.

“This signifies that you are all committed to the course of empowering women to support you contribute to household food security and to help contribute to the reduction of malnutrition among women and children. We will communicate this to the funding agencies”, he pointed out.

The traditional ruler and the stakeholders in group picture after the stakeholder’s engagement forum