‘Prioritise needs of women in agric sector’

 Women farmers and agribusi­ness owners have called on the government and stake­holders in agriculture to prioritise the unique needs of women in the sectorin order to enhance the country’s food security and foster economic growth.

According to them, women who play significant roles in ensuring the nation’s food security faced numerous challenges that hindered their ability to increase their pro­duction.

Madam HabibataHaruna, a farm­er, made the call on behalf of her colleagues on Friday at a policy dialogue at Wa in the Upper West Region on the theme, “Shaping Ghana’s Agricultural Future: The Role of Rural Women”.

It was part of activities to herald the commemoration of this year’s International Day of Rural Women.

It was organised by the Feed the Future Ghana Policy LINK Activity in collaboration with four other partners; the Ghana Market Sys­tems and Resilience (MSR) Activity, Ghana Mobilising Finance in Agri­culture (MFA) Activity, Resilience in Northern Ghana and Strengthening Systems Activity, Ghana Trade and Investment Initiative (GTI) support­ed by the Women in Agriculture Development of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA).

The dialogue brought together over 80 participants, with the majority being women groups and associations in agriculture from the five USAID’s Zone of Influence (ZOI) districts, namely Daffiama-Bussie­Issah, Wa East, Sissala West, Sissala East and Nadowli-Kaleo.

Madam Habibata, summarising the discussions by the women, said they hoped for inclusion and active participation in the sector’s policy and governance processes.

Addressing the participants, MrYunusAbdulai, the Country Lead of Feed the Future Ghana Policy LINK, emphasised that the United States Government, through its Feed the Future initiative, had been dedicated to addressing is­sues affecting women, particularly rural women in agriculture.

He said the active involvement of women in agriculture was piv­otal to enhancing productivity at all levels, and said women need­ed support to enable them work diligently.

Present at the dialogue session were officials of the Regional Department of Agriculture led by Mr Emmanuel SasuYeboah, the Re­gional Director and representatives of civil society organisations in the region.

 From Rafia Abdul Razak, Wa