Women farmers at a forum have called on the government to review and implement an agricultural master plan for Northern Ghana for accelerated agricultural-led transformation of the five northern regions.
Owing to the devastating effects of climate change on agricultural activities in the north, they said, such a plan would enable the government to institute measures and interventions that would increase food production in the north.
Women farmers forum
They made the call during a women farmers empowerment forum held in Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region.
It was on the theme: Promoting Sustainable Agriculture for Improved Food Security and Poverty Eradication in Climate-impacted Northern Ghana, The Role of Policy Makers”.
The event, which was organised by the Northern Patriots in Research and Advocacy (NORPRA), a civil society organisation (CSO), formed part of the activities of its Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) supported project, dubbed: “Increasing Renewable Energy Investments for the Empowerment of Women in Sustainable Agriculture and Lithium Mining in West Africa (IREEWAM, West Africa)”.
The 50 participants were taken through the government’s agricultural policies for women farmers’ empowerment, plans and programmes of the Northern Development Authority for women farmers empowerment for sustainable agriculture, and climate change and its impact on sustainable agriculture in Northern Ghana among others.
Further, the women urged the government to fast-track the implementation of the feed Ghana programme, Ghana Grains Development Project, vegetable development project, nkoko nkitinkiti and feed the industry programme under the Agriculture for Economic Transformation Agenda (AETA).
Also, they advocated modern irrigation systems including the solar for irrigation and irrigation for wealth creation projects for all-year-round crop and livestock production.
Women farmers’ support
A Professor of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Professor David Millar, called for more support for women farmers in the agricultural food production value chain, saying it was the surest way towards achieving food security.
He stated that there was the need for an agricultural policy that would disaggregate farmers so that both men and women farmers would be targeted in the implementation of programmes, saying: “We should create parallel programmes that would assist women farmers”.
“I wish to call on non-governmental organisation (NGOs) and CSOs to come up with interventions that would exclusively target and empower women farmers to contribute their quota towards food production,” he said.
Climate-smart agriculture
An Environment and Climate Change Consultant, Dr Samuel Akonga, stated that since the chunk of farmers in the north were women, it was important for them to fully understand the impact of climate change on agriculture.
He said if women farmers were able to understand climate change, they would be able to adapt towards securing food security in the country, adding that “women’s ability to shift towards climate-smart agriculture will shore up crop production”.
Dr Akonga, who is also a senior lecturer at the Bolgatanga Technical University (BTU), expressed concern about the indiscriminate cutting down of trees as fuel as it contributed to erratic rainfall patterns in the north.
The Upper East Regional Director of Agriculture, Alhaji Fuseini Zakaria, in a remark, underscored the importance of women farmers in food production as they formed a chunk of smallholder farmers.
He entreated them to come out of their shells and take advantage of the numerous interventions rolled out by the government and other organisations in the sector to increase crop production and improve their lives as well.
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