Mahama urges women to invest in agriculture | Land Portal

Former President John Dramani Mahama has encouraged women in Africa to fully take up agriculture as a means to enrich themselves, their families and achieve sustainable development for their countries.

Mr Mahama noted that women’s participation in agriculture is more critical as women in agricultural production in Africa are between 40 and 60 per cent.

Speaking at the Women in Agriculture Summit in Marrakech, Morocco on Tuesday, 12 September 2017, Mr Mahama said “Africa possesses about 600 million hectares of uncultivated arable land, amounting to about 60 per cent of the world total.”

According to him, the available arable land means Africa has the potential to, not only feed itself but, feed the rest of the world.

To achieve this, the former Ghanaian leader said not only women but also the youth must be attracted to invest and participate in agricultural production.

Mr Mahama identified land tenure system and unfair distribution of income as major challenges for women who want to invest in agriculture.

“Africa’s land tenure systems make it difficult for women to access and own land for agricultural purposes. Most land holding systems are male dominated. Women also have limited access to technology for modernised agriculture. Distribution of income in the agricultural value chain in many cases is tilted against women. For example, in Cote D’Ivoire, 60 per cent of labour on cocoa farms are women but they earn only 21 per cent of the income. In Ethiopia, 75 per cent of labour on coffee farms are also women but earn only 34 per cent of the income,” he stated adding that the “empowerment of women is not a privilege. It is a right.”

Mr Mahama further noted that no meaningful attainment of sustainable world development can be achieved without equal participation of women in all segments of human endeavour.

About 350 women participated in the summit meant to encourage women working to improve agriculture on the continent. The summit was also aimed at empowering other women and the youth to take up agriculture.

 

Copyright © Source (mentioned above). All rights reserved. The Land Portal distributes materials without the copyright owner’s permission based on the “fair use” doctrine of copyright, meaning that we post news articles for non-commercial, informative purposes. If you are the owner of the article or report and would like it to be removed, please contact us at hello@landportal.info and we will remove the posting immediately.

Various news items related to land governance are posted on the Land Portal every day by the Land Portal users, from various sources, such as news organizations and other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. The copyright lies with the source of the article; the Land Portal Foundation does not have the legal right to edit or correct the article, nor does the Foundation endorse its content. To make corrections or ask for permission to republish or other authorized use of this material, please contact the copyright holder.

Share this page