Sunyani: The Smallholders Women Farmers Association has called on the government to support women farmers to engage in sustainable agriculture practices and thereby improve their socioeconomic livelihoods.
According to Ghana News Agency, women farmers, particularly those in the Bono, Bono East, and Ahafo Regions, ought to be enlightened more on climate change adaptation and mitigation actions, ecological practices, as well as indigenous seed preservation. The Association made the call in a communique issued and signed by Madam Ayivor Cledential, the President of the Ahafo Regional chapter of the Association, at the closing session of a conference in Sunyani.
The event was organized by the Smallholders Women Farmers Movement (SHWFM) with support from ActionAid Ghana, a non-governmental organization. It was held under the theme 'Re-mobilizing Women Farmers to Promote Agroecology as a Sustainable Approach to Mitigate the Impact of Climate Change'. The communique also urged the government to establish processing factories in the three regions to control post-harvest losses of their crops.
The communique highlighted the critical role that smallholder women farmers play in ensuring food security, improving economic livelihoods, and promoting sustainable agriculture. It observed that the agriculture sector and current food systems in the country were fragile due to over-dependence on external inputs from other countries.
It noted that farmers were increasingly relying on hybrid seeds and synthetic agro-chemicals for improved yields, expressing regret that the climate crisis is having a devastating toll on smallholder farmers and threatening their economic livelihoods. The communique called for a partnership between the Association and the government to create an enabling environment for growth and prosperity.
It further stated that the Association remains committed to intensifying advocacy in promoting the interests of smallholder women farmers and holding the government accountable for its commitments to promote sustainable agricultural practices.
Earlier, Mr. Yaw Osei Boateng, the Programme Officer of ActionAid Ghana, explained that the conference aimed at re-mobilizing women farmers to lead advocacy actions and initiatives, as well as to discuss pertinent challenges affecting them and enlighten them on agroecology. He urged the women farmers to form groups to enable them to access credit facilities to improve their farming activities.
