Tamale women farmers get recognition

WOMEN have been deeply involved in various aspects of agriculture, be it land preparation, planting, weeding, harvesting, processing, animal rearing or marketing.

Some of the proud women farmers

In spite of this, they have often not been given due recognition for their contribution to food production, apparently because the men always take the credit for the productivity of their wives and sisters.

It was therefore heart-warming to see a number of women receive awards at this year’s farmers’ day awards ceremony in Tamale, which was held at Kogni.

Mma Hamza Hadija, a beans farmer from Jarigu, a community located off the Tamale-Salaga road, was adjudged the best female farmer in the Tamale metropolis.

Apart from her, four other women were rewarded for beating their male counterparts in the cultivation of some crops and the rearing of livestock.

They are Mma Yahaya Raabi, best shea nut picker, Mma Baba Ayishetu, best farmer of soya beans, Mma Yakubu Fuseina, best farmer in the rearing of small ruminants and Mma Abdulai Faati, best women extension volunteer.

They were presented with a number of items including cutlasses, wellington boots, pieces of cloths, sowing machines and fertilizer bags.

After receiving their prizes, they told the Daily Graphic that they were delighted to have been recognised for their contribution to food production.

Mma Hadija said she had been farming for more than 15 years and it has not been easy.

Mma Hadija receiving her award

“Our lives depend on good harvest and this also depends on good rains,” she noted, adding that anytime the rains were favourable, she got up to 14 bags of beans on her five acre farm.

Mma Hadija mentioned that one of the challenges facing her and other farmers was how to get tractor services when the planting season is due.

She also mentioned the lack of pesticides and other agro-chemicals as one factor that sometimes affected crop yields thereby denying them the opportunity to reap what they had sowed.

For Mma Faati, who was rewarded as the best agric extension volunteer, she became an extension officer because there had been concerns about the low number of females in agric extension service.

“I was one of those who were selected, trained and given bicycles to go into the communities and carry out extension service,” she stated.

She said her role enables her to interact with farmers in various communities and help them adopt improved farming technologies.

Mma Fati also happens to be a vegetable farmer and was actually rewarded in 2005 as the best vegetable farmer in the Tamale metropolis.

“I grow cabbage, sweet pepper, spring onions, carrot, ayoyo at my farm at Builpela,” she stated.

Meanwhile, the Chenshei Suhuyini Women’s Group, which comprises female farmers, processors and marketers, was also adjudged the best farmer-based organisation (FBO) in Tamale.