With voting for this year’s ONE Award underway, we’re taking a deeper look at the top four finalists. The ONE Africa Award celebrates African efforts aimed at achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the world’s blueprint for a better future. SDG targets range from halving extreme poverty, to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education.
Working on agriculture and economic growth, Agrisolve engages smallholder female farmers through technical development, access to improved inputs, and technology to attain higher yields and incomes.
Working primarily in Ghana, Agrisolve’s projects are aimed at smallholder women farmers in the northern parts of Ghana, where women farmers have opportunities to thrive towards prosperity and enabling these communities to have improved access to food.
Agrisolve’s mission is derived from the role that women play in farming. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, women farmers constitute about 43% of agricultural labour globally and in most developing countries. Women farmers in sub-Saharan Africa make up about 50% of the total agricultural labour force. In Ghana, where Agrisolve’s efforts are centred, women constitute about 45% of the entire agricultural labour force.
But Agrisolve goes beyond just supporting women farmers. It aims to raise public notice about the issues of technical knowledge gap, low yield, and access to farm services and resources affecting smallholder women farmers in the northern parts of Ghana.
Agrisolve does this primarily through communication. This can include field officers talking with farmers about issues they’re facing, or community leaders and stakeholders hosting meetings to raise awareness of the problems that hinder women from achieving their full economic potential.
Agrisolve also engages in gender dialogues, which involve men and women and encourage men to offer greater support to women in their economic venture. These talks aim to help men appreciate the need to support women and assist with access to land.
Agrisolve is passionate about changing the outlook of farming among women. Through investment, advocacy and support schemes, Agrisolve is helping to ensure that women smallholder farmers are a major catalyst to addressing the broader issues of food security and household nutrition.
Read more about the three other finalists in the running for this year’s ONE Africa Award and cast your vote here!
