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A conference to explore ways of promoting gender equality, using agriculture service to measure impact of agricultural projects, was held on Thursday, in Accra.
The event dubbed: ‘Gender equality through Agriculture in Ghana”, was organised by Agence Française de Developpement (AFD) and the Canadian Government.
It sought to discuss findings from a gender-based study on the agriculture sector in Ghana, which contributes to strengthening of gender issues and coordination among key ministries and development partners.
Madam Paulina Addy, Director of Women in Agriculture Development (WIAD), called for the elimination of cultural practices that prevented women from having equal access to land and other economic resources in their families and communities.
She lamented that continued marginalisation of women in decision making and inequalities in accessing economic resources, were to blame for extreme poverty among women, especially those in rural communities.
Madam Addy said “traditional and cultural practices barred women from inheritance of land belonging to their deceased spouses or male family members in some communities, which are inimical to gender equality, and an affront to economic empowerment of women.”
The situation she said was an underlying factor that enhanced poverty, unemployment and hardship among women and families in communities where farming is the main occupation.
Madam Addy said the government would continue to support women, consider their views and concerns on land tenure system, to empower and assist them to have access to land to guarantee economic freedom and sustain income, to cater for their families.
“The government will continue to engage women in agriculture to train and empower them to increase crop yield to boost agricultural production while increasing their incomes to improve socio-economic status,” Madam Addy stressed.
The French Ambassador to Ghana, Anne-Sophie Ave, observed that for the past 15 years, the country had been supporting rural communities in the northern part of the country to strengthen the agriculture sector, saying “more than 5,000 acreage of lowland has been cultivated, thereby contributing to reduction in dependant on food imports.
By BENEDICTA GYIMAAH FOLLEY
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