Women organization in Upper West seeks for more support to empower more women

In a bid to boost the output of its members in their soyabean farming and shea butter production, the Sungbo Women Empowerment Organization (SWEO) in the Upper West Region is seeking the provision of ready and timely tractor services from service providers for its members.

According to the organization, the inability of the women farmers to get tractor services to plow their farms at the required time impacts negatively on their yields.

Speaking in an interview on Wednesday, February 16, 2022, Chief Executive Officer of SWEO, Portia Gban Yahaya Mahama said because the few service providers available to the farmers are also commercial farmers who often needed to tilt their farms before attending to members, that meant delays in planting their farms which usually has a rippling effect on their output since farming in northern Ghana is done once in a year.

She, therefore, solicited the intervention of individuals and organizations with tractor services to come on board to offer the women additional timely services to ensure sustainability during the farming season for increased yields.

Enumerating other challenges hindering the operations of the organization, Madam Portia Gban bemoaned the delay in the arrival of the loan facility which the organization liaises with financial institutions to source for the women to be paid back after harvest with their farm produce.

According to her, failure to get the money on time did not usually help them increase their yields as expected. In addition, she also lamented the high-interest lending rates by financial institutions which she indicated was limiting the profit margins of the women.

She noted that apart from yearning for banks that would offer them loans with low-interest rates on time, the SWEO was also looking for support to get additional shea butter mills, crushers, and thresher machines to be able to empower more women to enable them to gain their source of livelihood. She also appealed for a van to ease the transportation of the women to and back from the farms.

The Sungbo Women Empowerment Organization(SWEO) is a non-governmental organization established four years ago aimed at empowering rural women with sustainable livelihoods to serve as a disincentive for rural-urban migration.

Formed in 2018, SWEO currently operates in six (6) communities in the Upper West Region with a total of 1,002 women drawn from 34 women groups.

According to the CEO, Madam Portia Gban, the organization started its operations with shea butter production establishing a shea butter mill and crusher at the Berenyase community in the Wa West District having realized how women traveled as far as 30km to Wa to access the service.

According to her, the services were initially meant to be free of charge for the milling as well as crusher services but she indicated that due to the maintenance of the machinery in mind, the organization rather opted to charge the women half amount of the stipulated fee they were charged elsewhere for same services.

She disclosed that a year later, SWEO identified another area that also lacked the shea butter milling services and hence, established another milling plant at Varenpare also in the Wa West District from the profit realized in the operations of the first one.

Madam Portia Gban said with further research, SWEO also decided to venture into farming having realized how women who were into farming also needed support in the areas of accessing credit facilities and ready tractor services to be able to farm. She revealed those who could even afford the tractor services still struggled to get service providers to help them with tractors.

She said, as a result, SEO, therefore, organized the women farmers and introduced them to soya bean farming while giving them all the needed support in terms of funding, the provision of threshers, and other equipment.

The CEO disclosed that apart from helping the women to market their farm produce at relatively improved prices after harvest, she revealed the organization was also currently helping the women add value to both the shea butter and soya beans produced to make cosmetics, tom brown, and other products to keep them in business even in the dry season.

To honor as well as motivate members for their commitment and dedication in their ability to pay back the interest on the monies loaned to them, SWEO organized an award ceremony for the women last Friday, February 11, 2022, at Dupare in the Wa East District.

At the event, the women farmers were awarded according to the number of acres they were able to cultivate.

For those who cultivated eight (8) acres, each received a bicycle, fertilizer (25kg), a cutlass, Knapsack sprayer, selective and non-selective pesticides while those who cultivated 7 acres each took home a fertilizer (25kg), a knapsack sprayer, a pair of wellington boots, a cutlass, selective and non-selective pesticide.

In furtherance, whereas those who also farmed 6 acres were each awarded with a Yara fertilizer (50kg), a cutlass, selective and non-selective pesticides; those with 5 acres also each received a fertilizer (25kg), a pair of wellington boots, selective and non-selective pesticides and a cutlass; with each of those who cultivated 4 acres, awarded with a pair of wellington boots, a cutlass, fall armyworm pesticide, selective and non-selective pesticides.

The rests include selective and non-selective pesticides, a cutlass as well as a pesticide given to farmers who cultivated 3 acres; selective and non-selective pesticides and a cutlass going to those with two acres; whereas those who cultivated an acre of the farm, each receiving a pesticide and selective pesticide.

In all, 149 women from Dupare, Gilang, Chagu, Goripia, Viaha, and Kejikperi communities were awarded for their hard work and commitment to encourage them to do more in subsequent farming seasons.

In a bid to boost the output of its members in their soyabean farming and shea butter production, the Sungbo Women Empowerment Organization (SWEO) in the Upper West Region is seeking the provision of ready and timely tractor services from service providers for its members.

According to the organization, the inability of the women farmers to get tractor services to plow their farms at the required time impacts negatively on their yields.

Speaking in an interview on Wednesday, February 16, 2022, Chief Executive Officer of SWEO, Portia Gban Yahaya Mahama said because the few service providers available to the farmers are also commercial farmers who often needed to tilt their farms before attending to members, that meant delays in planting their farms which usually has a rippling effect on their output since farming in northern Ghana is done once in a year.

She, therefore, solicited the intervention of individuals and organizations with tractor services to come on board to offer the women additional timely services to ensure sustainability during the farming season for increased yields.

Enumerating other challenges hindering the operations of the organization, Madam Portia Gban bemoaned the delay in the arrival of the loan facility which the organization liaises with financial institutions to source for the women to be paid back after harvest with their farm produce.

According to her, failure to get the money on time did not usually help them increase their yields as expected. In addition, she also lamented the high-interest lending rates by financial institutions which she indicated was limiting the profit margins of the women.

She noted that apart from yearning for banks that would offer them loans with low-interest rates on time, the SWEO was also looking for support to get additional shea butter mills, crushers, and thresher machines to be able to empower more women to enable them to gain their source of livelihood. She also appealed for a van to ease the transportation of the women to and back from the farms.

The Sungbo Women Empowerment Organization(SWEO) is a non-governmental organization established four years ago aimed at empowering rural women with sustainable livelihoods in order to serve as a disincentive for rural-urban migration.

Formed in 2018, SWEO currently operates in six (6) communities in the Upper West Region with a total of 1,002 women drawn from 34 women groups.

According to the CEO, Madam Portia Gban, the organization started its operations with shea butter production establishing a shea butter mill and crusher at the Berenyase community in the Wa West District having realized how women traveled as far as 30km to Wa to access the service.

According to her, the services were initially meant to be free of charge for the milling as well as crusher services but she indicated that due to the maintenance of the machinery in mind, the organization rather opted to charge the women half amount of the stipulated fee they were charged elsewhere for same services.

She disclosed that a year later, SWEO identified another area that also lacked the shea butter milling services and hence, established another milling plant at Varenpare also in the Wa West District from the profit realized in the operations of the first one.

Madam Portia Gban said with further research, SWEO also decided to venture into farming having realized how women who were into farming also needed support in the areas of accessing credit facilities and ready tractor services to be able to farm. She revealed those who could even afford the tractor services still struggled to get service providers to help them with tractors.

She said as a result, SWEO, therefore, organized the women farmers and introduced them to soya bean farming while giving them all the needed support in terms of funding, the provision of threshers, and other equipment.

The CEO disclosed that apart from helping the women to market their farm produce at relatively improved prices after harvest, she revealed the organization was also currently helping the women add value to both the shea butter and soya beans produced to make cosmetics, tom brown, and other products so as to keep them in business even in the dry season.

To honor as well as motivate members for their commitment and dedication in their ability to pay back the interest on the monies loaned to them, SWEO organized an award ceremony for the women last Friday, February 11, 2022, at Dupare in the Wa East District.

At the event, the women farmers were awarded according to the number of acres they were able to cultivate.

For those who cultivated eight (8) acres, each received a bicycle, fertilizer (25kg), a cutlass, Knapsack sprayer, selective and non-selective pesticides while those who cultivated 7 acres each took home a fertilizer (25kg), a knapsack sprayer, a pair of wellington boots, a cutlass, selective and non-selective pesticide.

In furtherance, whereas those who also farmed 6 acres were each awarded with a Yara fertilizer (50kg), a cutlass, selective and non-selective pesticides; those with 5 acres also each received a fertilizer (25kg), a pair of wellington boots, selective and non-selective pesticides and a cutlass; with each of those who cultivated 4 acres, awarded with a pair of wellington boots, a cutlass, fall armyworm pesticide, selective and non-selective pesticides.

The rests include selective and non-selective pesticides, a cutlass as well as a pesticide given to farmers who cultivated 3 acres; selective and non-selective pesticides and a cutlass going to those with two acres; whereas those who cultivated an acre of the farm, each receiving a pesticide and selective pesticide.

In all, 149 women from Dupare, Gilang, Chagu, Goripia, Viaha, and Kejikperi communities were awarded for their hard work and commitment to encourage them to do more in subsequent farming seasons.