Women are major contributors to Ghana’s food basket. However, building their capacities for development is far below the expected level. In contributing their quota to women empowerment in agriculture, Agrihouse Foundation has launched the 3^rd Women in Food and Agriculture Leadership Training Forum and Gold in Soil Awards.

The Women in Food and Agricultural Leadership Training Forum and the Gold in the Soil Awards will honor Ghanaian women’s contributions to agriculture development. The 3^rd Edition is slated for Wednesday, June 23 and Thursday, June 24, 2021, at Bolgatanga, the Upper East Region. It will be on the theme “Women in Agric – Swimming, Thriving and Making Waves beyond the Pandemic.”

Agrihouse Foundation will organize the programme in collaboration with the Women in Agricultural Development (WIAD ) under MoFA. Other partners include Yara and the Canadian High Commission.

Challenges of Women in Agriculture

Speaking at the launch, Madam Adwoa Awindor, the chairperson noted that majority of smallholder farmers are women who generate about 80% of Ghana’s total agricultural production. However, she said women farmers in particular face a lot of challenges. These challenges include insufficient agricultural training, limited access to markets, insufficient access to credit facilities, innovative marketing approaches and others.

Moreover, she said the coronavirus pandemic has worsened the plight of women engaged in agriculture. Thus, there is the need for government and stakeholders to support women engaged in agriculture.

She, therefore called for more support for women, saying given the right support women would excel in any business venture. Madam Adwoa Adwindor added that no support towards the resilience and sustainability of Ghanaian Agri-Women is too small. She then commended Agrihouse Foundation for their efforts in contributing to build a resilient and sustainable agri-women food system.

The Gold in Soil Awards and the training forum

According to the Executive Director, Alberta Nana Akyaa Akosa, Agrihouse is receiving nominations for the Gold in Soil Awards from both the Upper East and Upper West Regions, this year. This is the first time the Foundation has opened nominations in this way to allow more women from culturally diverse backgrounds to participate in the awards scheme.

The Gold in the Soil Award comprises of 15 categories, including She-Innovates Awards, Climate-Smart Women Project Awards and many others. The programme would involve mentorship sessions, training and presentation as well as soft skills training and workshops.

The objectives of the award are to promote networking among women in agribusiness and motivate them to do more collectively; to showcase the efforts of women agripreneurs; and to celebrate their achievements towards economic growth of their communities and country.

Commitment and Support

The Deputy Director of Operations at the Canadian High Commission, Stephanie Brunet indicated that her outfit looks forward to support this year’s event as they did in the past two events. Agrihouse previously held the past two events in the Volta and Ashanti regions in 2019 and 2020 respectively.

“Canada is glad to be part of this event, which would explore ways to enhance women’s resilience and recovery from the pandemic’s effects”

The Deputy Director said since 2017, Canada had been providing support to Ghana’s government to improve its agriculture sector. Their support has been through an initiative called Modernizing Agriculture in Ghana (MAG).

“Canada recognizes that the agriculture sector continues to hold great potential for reducing poverty and inequality in Ghana. Thus, we are providing CAD$125 million of assistance directly to Ghana’s government to help modernize the sector.”
Stephanie Brunet, Deputy Director