As we celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD), we at Agrihouse foundation salute all women in farming who have continuously overcome barriers and positioned themselves as key drivers of agriculture growth.
Marking the day with the theme, “Embracing Equity,” it has become necessary to advance gender equality by raising continuous awareness about discrimination and creating a platform for equal opportunities for both men and women.
Although the role of women in agriculture is undeniably important to the economic development of our country, many of them continue to face challenges such as lack of access to land for farming, lack of collateral to access financing, inadequate basic tools and processing equipment.
As we celebrate women day today it is right to bring to light remarkable contributions and achievements of two women who are helping to improve agriculture and agribusinesses in Ghana.
1. Alberta Nana Adjoa Achaa Akosa
Madam Alberta Nana Adjoa Akosa, is the Founder and Executive Director of the Agrihouse foundation, a non-governmental organization which seeks to help improve the agricultural sector in Ghana, she is also an Agric Advocate, intervener, initiator and implementer. She is a passionate promoter of the Agricultural industry and a tiller of the earth herself.
Over the last ten (10) years, she has led her organization to make significant contributions to the development of the agricultural sector in Ghana, through her advocacies, competence-based Training programs, leadership development and market linkages interventions, to support efforts for growth and sustainability of the sector.
Some of her initiatives and interventions, which has received national recognition includes: – the Agricultural students’ Career Guidance and Mentorship Dialogue Bootcamp(AG-STUD), the Livestock, Poultry and Fisheries Training & Tradeshow(LiPF), the Women in Food and Agricultural Leadership Training Forum and the Gold in the Soil Awards(WOFAGRIC), the monthly Agri-woman Market Place and Gathering Of The Royals.
Her other initiatives are the 1 household, 1 garden project (1h,1g) and AgriWatch News Portal .
Among other key impacts, her projects/interventions have supported in:
*Providing long-term market opportunities to over 197,000 less privileged farmers in the northern part of the country.
*Boosted the capacity of over 562 farmer-based organizations and aggregators to step up their role as market actors.
*Assisted farmers and 450+ agri-businesses to expand, and created an environment for new partnerships.
*Helped farmers adopt best practices for sustainability.
*Provided a platform for more than 22,000 commodity buyers to establish business relationships for the marketing of their produce.
*Technically and financially assisted in setting up over 294 businesses by young graduates, through the Agricultural students Career Guidance and Mentorship Dialogue Bootcamp.
2. Edith Wheatland Akorsa
Edith Wheatland Akorsa, CEO of Rockland Farms Company Limited operates a 100,000 capacity integrated poultry farm located in the Ashanti region of Ghana.
Established in 2013, The company has three subsidiaries – rockland farms,Eco Feeding Company and Rockland Meats. Rockland Meats is into the production, processing, and distribution of locally produced chicken, which is packaged under the brand name Akoko Tasty.
Together the companies have over 150 workers, which included trained broiler out-growers that support Rockland Farm’s supply chains, boosting its production capacity to more than 200,000 birds per cycle.
Rockland Farms provides training and other support to 3000 maize growers who supply maize to feed the farm.
Describing the poultry sector and gender, the CEO of Rockland Farms Company, stated that the sector is traditionally male dominated and is not accepting of women leading in most of the segments along the value chain. However, she had observed that over the years, there has been a certain level of acceptance and getting support as a woman entrepreneur is better and easier now than it used to be.
We wish all our amazing women, who are changing the agricultural sector through their numerous interventions and agribusinesses ,a happy international women’s day.
3. Portia Asumda
Madam Asumda, who hails from Zangeyire in the Upper East Region, deservingly took home the ultimate Gold in the Soil Award for her remarkable efforts as a woman farmer cultivating over twenty acres of rice and maize; and rears a number of cows, hundreds of small ruminants, including guinea fowls.
she has been working for the past 10 years in the agricultural sector, helping to train over 200 women in farming and agri-processing capacities.
She mentors women and employs a number of them who depend on the income they make to support their families. In view of her hard work, NBSSI collaborates with her as a service provider, ensuring that her products meet international standards, that enables her to export her products.
BY:AGRIWATCH REPORTER
