By Bisola Adeyemo
Maaltaaba Peasant Women Farmers’ Cooperative, a Non-Governmental Organisation, has trained and empower about 80 peasant women farmers at Yakort community in Ghana.
The women were all empowered to make a paradigm shift from inorganic farming practices to organic farming to improve their yields as well as generate income from selling the organic manure to help improve their livelihoods and achieve gender parity.
Most of the beneficiaries are mostly widows and single parents, to venture into dry season vegetable farming such as tomato, pepper, onions, carrots, ‘bitor’ and ‘alefi’ to contribute to food security and generate income.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency at the training site, Mrs Lydia M. Miyella, Founder and Executive and Executive Director, Maaltaaba Peasant Women Farmers’ Cooperative, said due to climate change and loss of soil nutrients, organic farming practices had become the preferred way of sustainably increasing yields while maintaining the soil nutrients.
She said most of the peasant women farmers in the area were vulnerable and could not afford to buy organic fertilizer especially considering the global increase in fertilizer prices.
That compelled her outfit to empower more women to go into composting for the production of organic manure to fertilize their farms and sell some, she added.
She noted, the NGO with financial support from the Forest and Farm Facility (FFF) was empowering more women in the community to go into tree growing to help mitigate climate change.
“As part of the support, a parcel of land had already been secured for the Peasant women farmers to expand their farming activities and to grow economic trees and other tree species on the acquired land.
“Plans are also far advanced to mechanize a borehole on the secured land for the group with same support from the FFF to facilitate the activities of the Peasant Women Farmers in tree growing and vegetable cultivation,” she added.