Africa-Press – Ghana. Some Queen Mothers in the Charikpong Traditional Area in the Nadowli-Kaleo district have appealed to the government and non-government organisations (NGOs) to support smallholder women farmers in the area to enhance their farming.
They indicated that smallholder women farmers in the area needed subsidised mechanisation services and inputs as well as financial support to enhance their agricultural production and crop yield.
The queenmothers said women in the area were predominantly farmers but faced many challenges, including access to mechanisation services and farm inputs such as fertiliser, which were affecting their livelihoods.
Pognaa Domitila Boator, the Queen Mother of Nanga, a community in the Charikpong Traditional Area, told that such support would translate to increase in household food security and income, thereby reducing the economic hardship among women in the area.
“A woman can clear the land and plant but will not have the money to buy the fertilizer to apply, and because of that, the crop yield will not be good.
There are some women who are widows, and they don’t have anything to do to generate money apart from farming, so how to get the fertilizer to apply on their farms is always a challenge for them,” Pognaa Boator explained.
On her part, Pognaa Bantieku Mwiniyelle, the Queen Mother of Tanduori community, also in the Charikpong Traditional Area, lamented that poor agricultural production among women farmers in the area had increased malnutrition among some households.
She explained that some women in that area were heads of households and depended on farming as their main source of livelihood, and to meet their children’s education and health needs.
Pognaa Mwinyelle, however, observed that some, especially the widows, aged and those with disabilities who depended on farming, could not afford a nutritious meal a day for their families due to a lack of support to increase their crop production and yield.
She indicated that some women relied on selling fuel wood to cater for the needs of their families and appealed for support for such families through the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme.
Mr. Prosper Muriyi Domayele, the Assembly Member for the Charikpong Electoral Area, told the GNA that as the rainy season sets in, he would take steps towards assisting the women farmers in the area to have timely access to tractor services for those who could afford.
Meanwhile, President John Dramani Mahama had expressed commitment towards redeeming the National Democratic Congress’s (NDC) 2024 election campaign promise of establishing Farmer Service Centres in every district across the country.
The centres, if established, would support farmers with modern agricultural technologies and equipment for critical agricultural services, including mechanisation to enhance the agricultural sector of the nation’s economy.
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