President and Founder of Ladies with Vision (LWV), Madiana Mensah-Gborie, disclosed that LWV has embarked on Agriculture by giving seedlings, and farm tools to young women in Bo district, Southern Sierra Leone.
She went on to say that LWV is partnering with SRD sponsored by FRIDA to help women in the Bo district develop their income base.
Madam Mensah-Gborie pointed out that LWV has always worked frantically to see that women are empowered and also to boost the vision of President Bio in the fight against food insecurity.
“Across the world, women make up a large portion of agricultural labour. In developing countries like Sierra Leone, their contributions exceed 50%. However, only a small percent of those women have ownership of assets such as land, livestock, human capital, inputs, seeds, fertilizers, labour, finance and services like training and workshops,” she stated.
She emphasized that women need specialized agricultural training and customized support to ease their double workload as farmers and caregivers, the right resources could help women maximize economic opportunities, increase productivity, and improve food security, education and healthcare, since women tend to reinvest in their households.
“Food insecurity and vulnerability to shocks have worsened significantly over the past ten years for most. Sierra Leone has reached a staggering 57% of the population, and women and children are mostly affected. The COVID-19 pandemic and its economic fallout have further exacerbated living conditions and access to basic amenities in 2020,” she said.
She added that Sierra Leone’s President has opted to focus on agriculture because of the food insecurity in the country. The ones that are most affected are women and children.
“To help in the national campaign, ladies with Vision has decided to target women in Agriculture and empower them, provide inputs such as farm tools, seedlings and fertilizers to rural women farmers, which will boost their livelihood activities and improve the food security of their various households and communities.”
Additionally, she said, it will increase the number of rural women owning/operating profitable farms and argic- related businesses, and their profile in leadership positions throughout the agricultural sectors of business, government and community will be actualized.
This project will provide education, technical assistance, garden tools and seedlings to women farmers in Bo district, Southeastern Sierra Leone. Ladies with Vision plans to work with established, beginning, and aspiring women farmers in the district.
To achieve the goals, the organization has started workshops for aspiring and beginning women farmers in the Bo District, and they will link them to agricultural value chains, increase their access to training and information, provide them with farm tools, and train them on new agricultural technologies and agri-business development.
She expressed the commitment of Ladies With Vision Sierra Leone to assisting and empowering vulnerable women, as well as those living in remote and underserved communities.
“This project will work perfectly with our goal, which is to change the societal perspective about women in Sierra Leone, by providing training, inputs, and seedlings to boost the livelihood activities of women farmers.
“The changes that will occur will be positive. It will help curb the food insecurity in Sierra Leone, as more women and girls will be targeted and benefit from the project,” she emphasised.
