adminTafadzwa Zimoyo Senior Reporter
A regional organisation, Women In Africa (WIA), has launched an agriculture hub to empower women smallholder farmers to boost production.
WIA is a regional organisation created to support the potential of African women leaders in private sector, civil society and State responsibilities.
Officiating at the launch of the Women in Africa hub in Borrowdale recently, United Nations resident co-ordinator Ms Maria Ribeiro called for women empowerment as a driver of inclusive growth and addressing social issues such as gender-based violence that disproportionately affect women compared to men.
“Women represent an essential demographic of the population of Zimbabwe and of the world and deserve to be treated equally and be afforded economic, social and political rights as their male counterparts,” she said.
“Women in Africa plays a significant role in economic development on the continent and the major stakeholders in the agriculture industry as they constitute the bulk of food producers.’’
She said apart from addressing GBV by raising awareness and ensuring that survivors received help, there was need to address the root causes which include economic, social and political issues.
“Despite constituting the larger percentage of the agricultural labour force, women in this sector are still confronted with issues such as less access to assets, credit facilities and markets,” said Ms Ribeiro.
“The UN is collectively working on resilience and community asset-building and supporting the livelihoods of vulnerable communities, in an effort to sustainably improve agricultural productivity.”
Speaking at the same occasion, WIA Zimbabwe ambassador, Ms Laureen Adams, urged women to fight for their rights to achieve goals on position of strength on economic, social and political issues first.
Ms Adams said Zimbabwe had the model of supporting smallholder farmers to run successful commercial farms in Africa.
“I am happy with the successful launch of the hub and would like to present WIA’s plan to accompany women farmers by providing an agriculture hub that would give them keys to unlocking commercial success,” she said.
“Launching the hub in the week of 16 days activism against GBV means a lot and I have chosen to focus on agriculture because it could be a great wealth generator for the continent.”
The event was attended by diplomats and women from different backgrounds.
Online Reporter