The lofty heights we all envisage for the local agriculture industry are only attainable through the collective input of stakeholders.
Indeed, examples elsewhere lay credence to the foregoing. Thankfully, Ghana is making the most of stakeholders – some of whom have consistently answered calls to lend support for initiatives that seek to incite transformative growth for the industry.
Through the delivery of relevant support that is tailored to solve peculiar challenges within the agric industry, these stakeholders are already engrained in the annals of Ghanaian agriculture as true allies.
Canada, through the Canadian embassy in Ghana, has for the second time in as many years demonstrated avid commitment to agriculture by joining forces with Agri-house Foundation to roll out the second edition of the Women in Food and Agricultural Leadership Forum & Expo (WOFAGRIC 2020) and the Gold in The Soil Awards to inspire hope and support women despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
Themed ‘Transforming and Sustaining Women in Agriculture: The Role of Public, Private and Development Partners’, the pro-affirmative action initiative is scheduled for the Golden Bean Hotel, Kumasi, from Thursday 6th to Friday 7thAugust 2020 in the Ashanti Region.
The Canadian High Commission in Ghana believes the initiative is “directly in line with Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy, which sees empowering women as the best way to build a more peaceful, more inclusive and more prosperous world”.
Canada was a standout supporter of the event’s maiden edition held in the Volta Region last year (2019) – and has this year made a commitment to absorb the full technical and financial responsibility for production of the Gold in The SoilAwards documentary, which is an important part of the awards scheme.
Canada will also be leading four (4) Training and capacity building sessions, aimed at strengthening the agribusinesses of women in agriculture, developing business skills, building long-term resilience in mechanisation and Technology amid the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
The Gold in the Soil Awards documentary, which is set to air on selected local TV channels, will chiefly seek to identify and celebrate the social, economic, cultural and agricultural achievements of women within the agriculture value chain.
The Documentary will bring to the fore untold stories of female trailblazers who are pioneering pervasive change in their communities.
It will explore women’s passion, drive, excitement, challenges, short- and long-term vision, in a way designed to inspire and mentor viewers. The documentary plays an important role in the judgment of the awards jury.
The 2nd Women in Food & Agriculture Leadership Training Forum & Expo (WOFAGRIC) & Gold in The Soil Awards is Agri-house’s expert opinion-sharing, mentoring, networking and learning platform for women in agriculture, agripreneurs, key stakeholders, development partners, researchers, farmer groups, government agencies, businesses, civil society, investment and professional advisors, and corporate leaders.
The event forms part of ongoing efforts to empower women, promote their works, expand their horizon, champion change and innovation, advance women entrepreneurship, recognise and award their works – while at the same time using it to mentor and inspire other women to venture into Agribusiness.
These women come in different categories; rural women, young female agripreneurs, female students, and women with disabilities etc. They all continue to make unrecorded but significant contributions to Ghana’s agricultural sector.
The event is designed to move to a new regional venue each year, and will have opening-day activities such as: Agri-Women Panel Discussion & Dialogue; Wave-maker Mentorship Session; Leadership training; Best Practices Sessions; identity and access to credit; Digital & Innovative Marketing trends.
These will make way for an even more thrilling second day that will feature: The Gathering of the Royals Dialogue (Queen Mothers in Agriculture); Fire in My Heart, Grace in My Soul Motivational Talk; and the Gold in the Soil Documentary & Awards
The Gold In The Soil Awards – The primary component of the 2-day event – will recognise and honour outstanding women in categories such as: Passion for the Farm Award; She-Innovates Award; Climate-Smart Women Project Award; Outstanding Woman in Extension Services Award; The Super Woman Farmer Award; Star Woman Agripreneur Award (Woman Agripreneur Award); and the Royal Agro Award.
The awards-list is completed by categories like: Diamond in the Rough Award; Feed to Food Awards (Poultry, Livestock & Fisheries); The Change-Champion Award; Lady of The Region Export Award; Development Partner Award; Princess Carla Award; and the ultimate award – the Gold in the Soil Award.
The distinguished winners of the highly respected sectorial awards are nominated by the public; and based on their verified performance and achievements, as recorded and shown in the video documentary, a jury of equally distinguished industry experts – led by the National Farmers and Fishermen Award Winners Association – commune to decide who meritoriously wins what.
Expressing her delight with the partnership gesture, Executive Director-Agrihouse Foundation, Alberta Nana Akyaa Akosa said: “Despite their central importance to agriculture, which sees women produce a great chunk of our food, women farmers are sadly excluded from conversations that determine agricultural policies. Together with Canada and other partners, we want to create an advocacy platform, inspire change and empower our women to reach for the sky in their enterprise – despite the uncertainty created by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
She continued: “This year’s event will focus on equipping agric-industry women with the capacity to improve production output during and post COVID-19. It will also assess the ability our women possess, and provide them crucial skills through tailor-made capacity building and skill transfer sessions that will embolden women to thrive despite crises and socio-economic fluctuations”.
Representatives from the Canadian Embassy will during the event handle four training topics at different sessions. Key topics to be handled include: Post COVID-19 and Beyond – Assessing and understanding the challenges and opportunities for women in Agriculture; How can women build long-term resilience in future crisis through sustainable mechanisation and Technology?; Effective ways for women in agriculture to increase their ability to produce food for their communities during COVID-19 and beyond; How do we ensure that the primary drivers of the sector – smallholder women farmers – are included and empowered, and their economic outcomes enhanced?; and Unfolding impact of the pandemic on women in agriculture.
Canada and Ghanaian Agric
Canada and Ghana have maintained a strong partnership in agric research through strong partnerships and collaboration between Canadian and Ghanaian Universities, capacity development of national research institutions and other Canadian-funded development projects.
Canadian support has helped Ghana develop an agricultural research system that is improving food security and economic growth throughout the country.
Canada launched a Feminist International Assistance Policy in July 2017. The policy, which now guides the its external development efforts across the globe recognises that supporting gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls is the best way to build a more peaceful, more inclusive and more prosperous world, and a key strategy for achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs)
Canada has been working together with Ghana to advance gender equality for some time, collaborating with organiszations to support programmes that are helping to address social and economic challenges, including through the agriculture sector to foster economic growth while lifting farmer smallholders out of poverty.
In 2018, Canada supported the preparation of Regional Gender Action Plans to guide efforts of the decentralised departments of agriculture. These documents assessed what were the main gender equality issues in each region and provided step-by-step, user-friendly ideas to guide staff on how to better support women, farmers, herders and agri-entrepreneurs in their communities to develop vibrant economic activities and business. The district departments of agriculture started implementing those actions plans in 2019.
Canada is also supporting the training of existing and future extension officers, through collaboration with Universities of Saskatchewan and Missouri and the agriculture colleges of Pong-Tamale, Damango, Ejura, Kwadaso and Ohawu. The revised curriculum, which is more climate-smart, more gender-sensitive and more value-chain oriented, is now being used in the agricultural colleges to teach future agri-entrepreneurs and extension officers. And it is also being used to train existing extension officers throughout the country.
As a result of the Canadian support to the agriculture sector, funds transferred using government local budgetary and financial systems reach every district and every region of Ghana, providing agriculture departments with the financial resources they need to support farmers in their area. In 2018, Canadian support made it possible for extension staff to support 2.5 million farmers throughout the country – including 1 million women – through activities such as farm and field visits, demonstration plots and FBO training sessions.
Today, the Canadian embassy’s input has contributed extensively to fuelling increased women participation in Ghanaian agriculture.
Impact Story
Since rolling out the maiden edition in 2019, the invaluable support of Canada and other stakeholders has helped Agri-house Foundation achieve seismic impacts.
So far, about 43 women have gone into full-time commercial farming or made practical attempts to expand the capacity of their businesses – making the most of the experience garnered at WOFAGRIC 2019.
Almost a quarter of the nominees for the Gold in The Soil Awards have also made entries into the National Best Farmers Award Scheme at district, regional and national levels – with about 7 of them winning laurels at the district and regional levels, while 2 of them picked up awards at the National awards.
A post-event assessment carried out 3 months after the event last year revealed that a significant number of women present at the event in 2019 have now been able to access loan facilities to support their farms and businesses – conspicuous proof that the effective book-keeping lessons participants partook during the maiden edition of the event have yielded fruit.
Information and guidance provided in partnership with the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) equipped some of the women farmers on the standard procedures, best practices and proper documentation tips to export their produce. So far, about 13 women have begun processes leading to their ability to begin exportation.
Some of the mentees have had their mentors evaluate their business models and periodically give business advice to them – women who are being mentored at no fee. The role-modelling and mentoring sessions created business networking opportunities for attendees.
Conclusion
The immense effort put into the agric sector by the Ghanaian woman is too huge to discount. It is so crucial that any effort geared toward highlighting it is easily a worthy endeavour. Agri-house Foundation recognises and appreciates this perspective, which is why the foundation is again pleased this year to have the support of Canada and other key stakeholders who have come aboard to give wings to the initiative. Key sponsors already aboard include: Absa, Yara, OCP and Brown Gi, Ministry of food and Agriculture (MOFA), Women in Agric Development (WIAD), and the NationalFarmers and Fishermen Award Winners Association of Ghana (NFFAWAG).
Sara Nicholls, Acting Canadian High Commissioner
The post Alberta Nana Akyaa Akosa’s thoughts …Canada partners Agrihouse appeared first on The Business & Financial Times.
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