The Technical Education Development for Modernizing Agriculture in Ghana (TEDMAG) Consortium is set to support female entrepreneurs in Agricultural Colleges in Ghana.
The initiative is part of the Global Community Service Project, an initiative co-funded by TEDMAG, aimed at promoting women entrepreneurship and capacity building for female entrepreneurs in Agric colleges.
TEDMAG has donated six thousand Canadian dollars as funding for female agripreneurs in Ghana.
Board Chairman of the Agribusiness Innovation Hub, Professor George Oduro Nkansah disclose this at a one-day Global Community Service Stakeholder Consultation workshop in Accra.
He said already, they have set up the Agribusiness Innovation Hub at the Kwadaso Agriculture College and will do same in all colleges across the country.
Prof Oduro Nkansah noted that, they will organise pitches in the Colleges and the students who excel will be given seed funding start their agric businesses.
As a co-lead of the Global Community Fund, he said their focus is to create opportunities for female students and teachers in Agric colleges.
Prof Oduro Nkansah said they have started a pilot project at Damongo and Ejura Agricultural College & Mechanization Centre.
This, he added is to empower women in agriculture and create novel opportunities within the sector.
Also, TEDMAG Principal Investigator, Professor Mary Buhr said their focus is helping female students in Agric Colleges in Ghana create their own careers in the sector.
“We want the young women to have the skills and confidence to build their own businesses in the agric sector” Mary Buhr stated.
For her part, Global Community Service Gender Specialist, Aba Amissah Quainoo bemoaned the low enrollment of female students in Agric colleges.
She blamed the development on the stereotype against agric-related courses from primary and secondary level of education.
The Gender Specialist who did a research on the change of mindset underscored the need for more women to be encouraged to undertake professional courses in agriculture.
Mrs. Quainoo feared if more women are not encourage to take up careers in agriculture, Ghana’s food security will be threatened.
“Women contribute significantly to food security so if you don’t have enough of them undertaking professional courses to improve their knowledge, have access to information and technology, it means we will suffer when it comes to achieving food security” she added.
A teacher at the Damongo Agricultural College who is a beneficiary of the TEDMAG project, Mary Badu said a lot of things have improved.
For their practical’s, she said they have been able to increase the acres of their soya and maize farms from five to 30.
Mary Badu is certain if such initiative is extended to other Agric colleges in the country, Ghana’s agric sector will thrive.
The workshop brought together traditional leaders, self-empowered communities, colleges, female tutors, and students to help build a successful future in agriculture for Ghana.
Other speakers include Dr. Naalamle Amissah of the University of Ghana and Professor Case of the University of Saskatchewan in Canada.