A workshop has been held to empower women in agribusiness with knowledge in financial literacy, climate-smart agriculture, health, and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), to improve their operations and facilitate their holistic development.
The day’s event dubbed: “AgroWoman 360,” was organised in Tamale by RDF Ghana LBG, in collaboration with Sung Foundation, for participants who were women in Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME)-level agribusinesses in rural Ghana.
They were drawn from the Sagnarigu and Gushegu Municipalities of the Northern Region.
The Chief Executive Officer of RDF Ghana LBG, Yaw Oppong, said through AgroWoman 360, the organisation hoped to garner support from local communities and authorities, the government and development partners, to drive the holistic development of women in MSME-level agribusiness.
Mr Oppong said in line with the Sustainable Development Goals, RDF Ghana LBG, had been working for the sustenance of the country’s agricultural sector to support the viability of agri-food systems.
“Agribusiness workers, especially women, have proven that agriculture has the potential to lift Ghana into economic prosperity,” he said.
The Gender Desk Officer of Sung Foundation, Shafawu Adam, who took participants through financial literacy, encouraged them to remain active in their village savings and loans associations and continue to save money, invest their cash out in their businesses, as well as pay their loans on time.
The Programmes Manager of Presby Agricultural Services, Moses Neindow, speaking on climate-smart agriculture, advised the participants to do away with excessive spraying of their farms, and embrace inter-cropping, mixed cropping and agroforestry.
He also advised them to use organic manure to ensure a sustainable increase in production and nutritional security.
A Water and Sanitation Engineer at the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly, Muniru Masalachi, spoke WASH, spoke about the effects of open defecation.
He urged those without household toilets to incorporate WASH into their VSLA contributions to enable them to raise resources to build household toilets.
He said, “patronising public toilets are much more expensive in the long run, compared to owning household toilets”.
There was also a breast cancer screening exercise to support the early detection and speedy response to the disease among rural women.
The Sagnarigu Municipal Chief Executive, Mohammed Ahmed Yakubu, lauded the initiative saying the focus on WASH and financial literacy was not just a necessity but a commitment to breaking barriers and creating opportunities as well as fostering self-reliance, health, and economic prosperity in communities.
He urged participants to use the opportunity to enhance their capabilities, build their capacities and access a wide range of offers in promoting their livelihoods and building more resilient systems for human development and environmental sustainability.
Some of the participants that the Ghana News Agency interacted with lauded the initiative, saying they had learnt a lot, which would positively impact their lives and businesses.
RDF Ghana LBG is dedicated to sustainable rural development through the provision of financial and technical assistance to MSMEs in agriculture and renewable energy.
The organisation, through lines of credit, credit guarantees and technical assistance programmes, has supported over 10,000 direct beneficiaries with 68 per cent of them being women.
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