The Member of Parliament for Korle- Klottey, Dr. Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, has commenced the National Agricultural Capacity and Business Set-up Roadshow to empower young women and persons with disabilities in agribusiness.
She said the project was to reduce the financial burden on the people when they ventured into agribusiness.
Dr. Agyeman-Rawlings, speaking at the screening and shortlisting of beneficiaries for the Roadshow, said it aimed to provide the beneficiaries with the requisite skills and materials to ensure they succeeded.
She said it was also one of the ways to enhance gender mainstreaming and provide equal opportunities for women.
“We are trying not to eliminate women if they are capable of succeeding. And the elimination process is not meant to weed out the women but to discover which of them had the capacity, commitment and interest in the activities we are embarking on,” she said.
Dr Agyeman-Rawlings said partners did not want to throw money at people when they could be trained and supported with the right logistics needed to operate their businesses.
“As a female Member of Parliament, I think this is the platform to open my door for as many women who are willing to participate not just in this but in other projects as possible,” she added.
Dr Agyeman-Rawlings said the programme was launched a couple of months ago with the intention of doing the piloting in the Korle Klottey Constituency to start within the Greater Accra Region.
She said the registration was done online with over 700 people applying, which was narrowed down to 400, who were now under-going through the screening.
She said the screening was to make sure that those who were shortlisted actually understood what it took to fulfil the criteria for the project to ensure its success.
She urged stakeholders to provide the needed conducive environment for more participation of women in agribusiness.
Alberta Akyaa Akosa, the Founder of Agrihouse Foundation and Co-Implementer of the programme, said the project focused on training the applicants in Rabbit, Snail and Mushroom farming.
She said their priorities were to make impact in enhancing and changing livelihoods and also enhancing nutrition.
Madam Akosa said the high number of applications received indicated that the government, development partners, and policymakers really needed to take a practical look at the agriculture sector.
She said the training would last three to five days and the trainees would be given a start-up pack for their various farming activities.
Madam Akosa said they intended to implement a comprehensive monitoring system to help evaluate their progress and expressed the hope that by the end of the screening about 100 people would be selected to go through the training within the Greater Accra Region.
Maclean Atsu Dzidzienyo, a Paralympic Athlete, who was shortlisted, commended the MP and her implementing partners for the initiative.
He said he was already into grass-cutter farming and that he intended to include rabbit rearing to help inspire other persons with disabilities.
He urged the Government to provide support for persons living with disabilities who wanted to engage in any form of farming activity.
