The Upper East Civil Society Organizations in Agriculture platform have called on traditional authorities working closely with landowners to focus attention in facilitating women’s access to arable lands and productive resources as a sustainable way of contributing to food security in the Region.
They further called on chiefs and queen mothers to explore opportunities through the traditional council to develop local level bye-laws that promote inclusive land tenure arrangements which prioritize women’s access to land and other productive resources. These were contained in a communique signed by the chairman of the Regional CSO in Agriculture after a Regional stakeholders engagement in Bolgatanga on women’s access to Arable lands and productive resources. The stakeholders were drawn from traditional authorities, civil society organizations, the Regional Coordinating Council, women in Agriculture platform and the media. The statement encouraged women to mobilize into groups in the form of the Women in Agriculture platform to have a bargaining power to negotiate for access to land with landlords and traditional authorities.
While calling for national-level institutional reforms to allow women access to land as their human rights, the statement also appealed to the Regional House of chiefs to hold a discussion to address outmoded cultural practices that denies women access to arable lands. It noted that access to arable lands should go alongside with reliable water supply to facilitate irrigation of fields during the dry season.
The statement concluded with a call for women’s access to farmlands as one of the indicators for accessing District Assemblies qualification for the District Performance Assessment Tool D-PAT as well as national and regional recognition and awards for traditional authorities.
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