Yara Ghana Limited
Yara Ghana Limited has donated quantities of fertilizer to two women farmer groups in Ghana.
The donation forms part of the annual donation made by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Yara International to women farmers in Africa.
The donation this year was to provide a complete crop nutrition solution for maize to cover an acre each for a season to 600 women farmers in total (300 women farmers from each group).
The fertilizers donated comprised the YaraMila Actyva and YaraBela Sulfan, which provides high yields on cereals.
For this year’s donation, the various countries in the Yara Business Unit Africa were invited to submit proposals based on the work they have done with women farmers in their respective countries.
Work done with these two women farmer groups by the Yara Ghana Team impressed the panel that made the donation to Ghana.
The two groups included the St. Cecilia Women’s Cooperative and Development Action Association (DAA).
The St Cecilia Women’s Cooperative in Tuna in northern Ghana is made up of over 700 women farmers of which a substantial number are widows.
The group was formed about a decade ago to support women farmers to gain access to agricultural extension trainings, affordable and quality inputs to increase their farm productivity.
The other beneficiary group, Development Action Association (DAA), with 98% of its members being rural women, is an association of farmers and fish processors operating in Greater Accra, Central, Volta and Eastern Regions with an objective to reduce poverty and empower group members to be self-reliant.
The DAA is a women farmer group, which came out of FAO project done over 20 years ago dubbed, “Freedom from hunger campaign action for development.”
The group currently has a membership of 3,000.
At a ceremony to present the fertilizers to the DAA at Timber Nkwanta in the Akuapem North Municipality of the Eastern Region, Managing Director of Yara Ghana, Danquah Addo-Yobo, stated that “apart from the fertilizer donation, Yara Ghana shall continue its work with these women farmers in training and sensitisation of members on best agronomic farming practices to ensure that the right application and right farming practices are adopted to deliver high yields.”
The Eastern Regional Director of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), Henry Crentsil Jnr, commended women farmers for their contribution to the agricultural sector in Ghana and encouraged them to continue striving for success.
Receiving the items on behalf of the DAA, the Executive Director, Lydia Sasu, expressed the group’s appreciation to Yara Ghana for the donation.