OVER 5,000 young women in the Northern Region have been registered under the 2010 Youth in Agric Block Farm programme being undertaken by the Ministry of Food and Agric (MoFA).
The women are among a group of 15, 000 young people who are benefiting from the project in the region. This is a clear departure from previous programmes, which were dominated excessively by males.
The Northern Regional Director of Agriculture, Mr Joseph Yeng Faalong, made this known when he addressed a meeting of the Northern Regional Co-ordinating Council in Tamale.
He said the group were to undertake the cultivation of rice, maize, soybeans, sorghum and onions.
“For rice, a total of 16,878 hectares has been targeted for production, whiles that of maize is 4,997 hectares,” he indicated.
Mr Faalong said an estimated 2,043 hectares was being targeted for soybean production, 472 hectares for sorghum and 50 hectares for onions.
He said already some progress had been made, even though land preparation was largely underway, and indicated that over 4000 hectares of rice, 2000 hectares of maize and 244 hectares of soybean had already been produced.
Mr Faalong expressed particular interest in the participation of the women, explaining that, that could go a long way to help advance the course of gender empowerment.
“We hope that through such initiatives, more young women would get into agriculture, reap the benefits and impact positively on welfare of their families and communities,” he added.
The regional director further noted that the success of the youth in agric project would encourage the government to expand it to benefit more young people.
He said aside this project, there were other measures being implemented by the MoFA, which could have a positive impact on the 2010 production season.
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