Over
one thousand women from across Ghana converged at Amasaman in the Ga-West
Municipal Assembly of Accra to voice their development needs to government and
other partners.
Representatives
of rural women participating in the national rural women’s rally raised issues concerning
their non-involvement in policy formulation, challenges with land tenure and irrigation
for farming as well as access to machinery to add value to produce.
The
women also voiced the adverse effects of chemical application in farm land preparation
on food crops and the pollution of water bodies through the activities of illegal
mining.
Women’s
Leader, Lydia Sasu told Luv Fm the involvement of women in all aspects of
national socio-political and economic activities is crucial to sustainable
development.
According
to her, giving a voice to the rural woman is important because “women produce
70-80 percent of the food crops in Ghana in small-scale” and their empowerment
will culminate in the much desired positive change.
The
World Rural Women’s Day was instituted in 2008 to be commemorated a day ahead
of World Food Day in recognition of the multiple role women play in local
communities.
The
national event was put together by the Development Action Association (DAA) and
Farmers Organization Network in Ghana (FONG) in collaboration with UN Women, with
the intent of allowing “rural women to speak for themselves”.
The
day was celebrated under the theme “Empowerment
and the role of rural women in poverty and hunger eradication”.
Madam
Lydia is hopeful commitments made by interest groups at the rally to empower rural
women will begin to yield positive fruits from 2013.
One
of the event sponsors, Yara Ghana, noted that the development of the rural economy
demands strategic linkages for rural women to deliver multiple dividends, including poverty reduction, increased food
production and decreased child malnutrition.
Henry Otoo-Mensah, Retail Sales Manager of the leading mineral fertilizer
distribution company, observed that rural women and girls face several constraints that limit their social and
economic opportunities and consequently hinder poverty reduction and
development.
He stated that one of Yara’s major objectives for doing
business in Africa is to use its huge knowledge in fertilizer and food production
to help reduce poverty in women and the more marginalized communities.
“As you know women bear a
disproportionate share of the burden of being poor; they are obliged to spend a
great deal of time not only working in family enterprises but also in nurturing
and rearing children. Small-scale farmers in Ghana's poor rural areas
especially women have very limited access to the assets, skills and improved
technology that would facilitate a shift from subsistence farming to modern,
commercial agriculture”, noted Mr. Otoo-Mensah.
According to him, Yara has committed itself to
empowering the rural woman through the provision of crop production skills and
the appropriate plant nutritional packages to enable the women realize higher
yields in their farming activities.
Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh
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